BV  2530  .T75  1842 
Tracy,  Joseph,  17937-1874. 
History  of  the  American 
board  of  commissioners  for 


HISTORY 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 


FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


COMPILED  CHIEFLY  FROM  THE  PUBLISHED  AND  UNPUBLISHED 
DOCUMENTS  OF  THE  BOARD. 


BY    JOSEPH    TRACY. 


SECOND  EDITION, 
CAREruI.LY  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


NEW-YORK : 
M  .    W  .    D  O  U  D  , 

BRICK    CHURCH   CHAPEL,   OPPOSITE   THE   CIT\    HALL. 
1842. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842,  by 

JOSEPH    TRACY, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


University  Press, 

JOHN  F.  TROW,  PRINTER, 

114  Nassau-street, 

New-York. 


RECOMMENDATIONS  OF  THE  WORK 

BY  THE  SECRETARIES  OP  THE  BOARD. 


The  "  History  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Tracy,"  is  far  from  being  a  mere  abstract 
of  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Board.  The  civil  year,  to  which  he  has 
reduced  his  facts,  does  not  correspond  to  the  financial  year  embraced  in 
those  Reports.  This  made  it  necessary  for  the  author  to  consult  the  ori- 
ginal documents,  which  he  did  with  laborious  and  accurate  research. 
The  plan  of  his  history,  if  not  so  well  adapted  as  some  other  to  con- 
tinuous reading  and  popular  effect,  is  admirably  fitted  for  reference,  and 
for  aiding  those  on  whom  it  may  devolve  to  give  instruction  concerning 
missions  at  the  Monthly  Concert  and  elsewhere.  What  we  say  is  of 
course  not  designed  to  imply,  that  the  Board  is  in  any  way  responsible 
for  the  correctness  of  the  facts  or  opinions  embodied  in  this  work  ;  but 
we  may  express  our  own  conviction,  that  it  will  not  soon  be  superseded 
by  a  history  more  comprehensive,  more  concise,  more  clear  and  accurate, 
or  more  worthy  of  occupying  a  place  in  the  libraries  of  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  and  intelligent  laymen. 


RUFUS  ANDERSON,   )  „   .  •  ^.i 
DAVID  GREENE,     S  ^f^Tn'^^Z^ 
WM.  J.  ARMSTRONG,  S    '^'^'^'^'  '^^ 


Mission  House,  Boston,  May  6th,  1842. 


INDEX  OF  MISSIONS. 


AFRICA. 

South  Africa  (Zulu)  Mission  ;    Umlazi,   Boers'  Encampment,  pp.  300,  315,  330, 

345.  370,  399,  425. 
West  Africa  (Grebos)  Mission  ;  Fair  Hope  and  Fishtown,  p.  2S0,  426. 

EUROPE. 

Mission  to  Greece  ;  Jthens,  Areopolis,  pp.  218,  234,  264,  277,  295,  308,  324,  341, 
364,  383,  414,  435. 

ASIA. 

Turkey  Mission  ;    Smyrna,   Broosa,    Constantinople,   Trebizond,  Erzeroom,   and 

Lartiica,  pp.  176,  189,  205,  247,  265,  278,  296,  298,  308,  325,  341,  364,  384,415, 

436. 
Syrian  Mission  ;   Beirut,  Jerusalem,  Deir  El  Kamer,  and  Aleppo,  pp.86,  101,  106, 

116,  128,  145,  163,  177,  234,  279,  298,  311,  326,  343,368,  391,  417,439. 
Persia  (Nestorian)  Mission  ;   Ooroomiah,  pp.  280,  299,  312,  329,  344,  369,  392,  421, 

437. 

Independent  Nestorian  Mission,  pp.  394,  423,  438. 
Persia  (MuhammedanI  Mission  ;    Tabriz,  p.  370,  425,  439. 

Mahratta  Mission  ;  Bombay,  Ahmednuggur,  Jalna,  and  Malcolm- Peth,  pp.  38,  40, 
47,  55.  58,  65,  71,  78,  87,  104,  113,  125,  141,  160,  174,  188,  204,  215,  231,  245, 
262,  275,  290,  304,  320,  337,  360,  378,  411,434. 

Madras  Mission  ;  Royapoorum,  Chinladrepettah,  and  Black  Town,  pp.  322,  337, 
361,  411. 

Madura  Mission  ;  Madura,  Dindigul,  Tervpuvanum,  Sevagunga,  and  Terumunga- 
Lum,  pp.  291,  305,  321,  338,  361.  379,  412. 

Ceylon  Mission  ;  Tillipally,  Batticotta,  Oodooville,  Manepy,  Panditeripo,  Chava- 
gachery,  Varany,  &c."  pp.  39,  56,  59,  66,  73,  79,  88,  105,  114,  127,  161,  175, 
189,  205,  215,  231,  246,  2G3.  275,  291,  304,  321,  361,  379.  412. 

SiAM  Mission  ;  Bankok,  pp.  264,  276,  293,  306,  322,  'S&3,  381,  412. 

China  Mission  ;  Macao,  pp.  217,  232,  264,  276,  292,  305,  322,  338,  362,  379,  412. 

INDIAN  ARCHIPELAGO. 

Singapore  Mission  ;   Singapore,  pp.  293,  308,  323,  340,  363,  383,  414. 
Borneo  Mission  ;   Sambas,  Pontianak,  and  Batavia,  pp.  324,  414. 

NORTH  PACIFIC  OCEAN, 
Sandwich  Islands  Mission  ;  Kailua,  Lahaina,  Honolulu,  &c.  pp.  85,  S."),  122,  133, 
150,  168,  181,  198,  210,  225,  241,  255,  270,  286,   302,    3l7,  333,  349,  373,  403, 
428,  443. 

INDIAN  MISSIONS. 

Cherokee  Mission,  pp.  63,  68,  75,  81,  91,  94,  107,  118,  131,  149,  166,  180,  l93,  207, 

228,  249,  266,  280.  300,  315,  331,  346,  371,  400,426. 
Choctaw  Mission,  pp.  76,  84,  92,  109,  118,  132,  150,  166,  207,  221,  254,  268,  283, 

301.  331,  427. 
Pawnee  Mission,  pp.  347,  400,  427. 
Oregon  Mission,  pp.  332,  348,  373,  401,428. 
Sioux  Mission,  pp.  316,  401,427. 
Ojibwas  Mission,  pp.  241,  255,  285,  333,  348,  428. 
Stockbridge  Indian  Mission,  pp.  210,  238,  347,  401,  428. 
New  York  Induws  Mission,  pp.  338,  347,  42S. 
Arkansas  Mission,  pp.  111.  121,  133,  150,  209,  225,  254,  269,  331. 
Chickasaw  Mission,  pp.  220,  254,  283,  300. 
Creek  Indians  Mission,  pp.  237,  269. 


PREFACE 

TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION. 


This  work  first  appeared  as  a  part  of  the  "  History  of  American  Missions," 
published  at  Worcester,  Mass.  in  1840.  In  disposing  of  the  first  edition,  of 
2500  copies,  it  was  found  that  the  wishes  of  many  purchasers  would  be  better 
met  by  a  separate  publication  of  the  histories  of  which  it  was  composed.  This 
second  edition  has  been  prepared  accordingly. 

The  whole  work  has  been  carefully  revised  by  the  author,  aided  by  the 
notes  and  remarks  of  missionaries  and  others,  best  able  to  detect  its  inaccura- 
cies, and  point  out  its  defects.  The  history  is  brought  down  as  near  to  the 
time  of  publication,  as  documents  from  the  several  missions  render  practicable. 
There  are,  however,  many  things  in  the  documents  of  the  last  five  or  six 
years  especially,  of  which  time  has  not  yet  shown  the  bearing  or  the  value, 
and  which,  as  they  cannot  now  be  advantageously  used,  must  be  left  to  enrich 
the  pages  of  some  future  historian  of  the  Board. 

Some  changes  have  been  made  in  the  illustrations.  A  few  unimportant 
cuts  have  been  thrown  out,  some  of  the  maps  have  received  corrections,  and 
some  new  maps  are  added. 

In  the  text  the  orthography  of  Arabic  names  has  been  changed,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  system  which  was  proposed  by  the  convention  of  American 
missionaries  at  Jerusalem,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robinson,  in  1838,  and 
which  will  probably  be  adopted  by  writers  generally.  In  the  maps,  the 
change  could  not  well  be  made ;  so  that  the  same  place  is  called  Mansuriyeh 
in  the  text,  and  Mansooreea  on  the  map. 

Some  attempts  have  been  made,  to  improve  the  work  as  a  book  of  refer- 
ence ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  in  its  present  form,  any  remembered  fact  mentioned 
in  it  will  be  easily  found.  To  some  extent,  it  may  serve  as  an  index  to  the 
Missionary  Herald  and  Reports  of  the  Board  ;  though  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  events  which  occurred  in  a  single  year,  and  in  this  work  are 
narrated  in  the  history  of  that  year,  are  often  scattered  through  two  or  three 
volumes  of  the  Herald,  and  two  or  three  Annual  Reports.  In  those  publica- 
tions, a  more  full  account  of  many  things  may  be  found.  In  some  cases,  how- 
ever, their  statements  are  less  complete.  During  the  persecution  at  Constan- 
tinople, for  example,  it  was  thought  unsafe  to  publish  much  that  was  known  ; 
as  it  would  immediately  go  back  to  Constantinople,  and  provoke  the  persecu- 
tors to  greater  violence.     Concerning  the  papal  mission  in  the  Sandwich 


PREFACE   TO   THE    SECOND   EDITION.  VI 

Islands,  some  important  documents  were  inaccessible,  till,  of  late,  they  were 
procured  from  France.  Several  other  cases  of  the  same  kind  might  be  speci- 
fied. 

The  author  regrets  that  the  necessity  of  printing  this  work  at  a  distance 
from  his  residence,  has  rendered  it  impracticable  for  him  to  examine  the 
proofs.  From  the  character  of  the  publisher,  however,  he  trusts  that  this 
duty  has  been  satisfactorily  performed. 

Boston,  May,  1842. 


HISTORY 

OF     THE 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS- 


PREFACE. 


For  the  materials  of  this  History,  the  author  is  indebted,  most  especially, 
to  the  kindness  of  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  Board,  who  have  granted 
him  free  access  to  their  numerous  and  valuable  unpubhshed  documents.  Be- 
sides these,  the  principal  sources  of  information  have  been,  the  thirty  Annual 
Reports  of  the  Board  ;  thirty-five  volumes  of  the  Panopolist  and  Missionary 
Herald ;  Du  Halde's  China ;  Barrow's  Travels  in  China  ;  Medhurst's  China  ; 
Abeel's  Residence  in  China ;  Gutzlaff's  Voyages  and  History  of  China  ; 
Crawford's  Indian  Archipelago;  Raffle's  History  of  Java ;  Malcolm's  Trav- 
els ;  Georgii  Alphabetum  Tibetatum ;  Osborn's  Doctrinal  Errors  of  the 
Apostolic  and  Early  Fathers ;  Heeren's  Researches  ;  Tod's  Annals  and  An- 
tiquities of  Rajasthan;  JVIaurice's  Ancient  India;  Ward's  View  of  the  Hin- 
doos; Malcolm's  Central  India  ;  Dufl's  History  of  the  Mahrattas  ;  Memoirs  of 
William  Carey  ;  of  Buchanan ;  of  Swartz  ;  Read's  Christian  Brahmun  ;  Ram- 
sey's Missionary  Journal ;  Memoirs  of  Mrs.  Judson  ;  of  Gordon  Hall;  of  Harriet 
Newell;  Knox's,  Percival's  and  Cordiner's  Accounts  of  Ceylon ;  Upham's 
Sacred  and  Historical  Books  of  Ceylon  ;  Malcolm's  History  of  Persia  ;  Smith 
and  Dwight's  Researches  in  Armenia  ;  Memoirs  of  Levi  Parsons  ;  of  Pliny  Fisk ; 
Anderson's  Peloponnesus  and  Greek  Islands  ;  Voyage  of  Tyerman  and  Ben- 
nett ;  Elhs'  Polynesian  Researches  ;  Stewart's  Sandwich  Islands ;  Dibble's 
History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  Williams'  Missionary  Enterprises  in  the 
South  Seas ;  Loskeil's  History  of  the  Moravian  Missions  among  the  American 
Indians;  Memoirs  of  David  Brainerd  ;  of  Catherine  Brown  ;  Parker's  Explor- 
ing Tour  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains;  Smith  and  Choules'  History  of  Mis- 
sions;  Brown's  History  of  Missions  ;  Humphrey's  History  of  the  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts;  Life  of  Eliot  (Wilson's  and 
Sparks') ;  Life  of  Wheelock;  Stone's  Life  of  Brant;  Holmes'  American  An- 
nals ;  Massachusetts  and  Hazard's  Historical  Collections ;  Drake's  Book  of 
the  Indians  ;  Morse's  Report  on  Indian  Affairs  ;  Mather's  Maornalia  ;  Morton's 
New  England  Memorial;  Memoirs  of  Samuel  J.  Mills;  the  Christian  Observ- 
er, Missionary  Register,  and  other  periodicals  and  newspapers  published 
within  the  last  thirty  years.  Some  facts  have  also  been  learned  from  the  recol- 
lections of  individuals,  and  from  private  journals  and  letters  of  missionaries. 

To  bring  the  transactions  of  the  Board  and  of  so  many  missions,  so  dis- 
tant and  distinct  from  each  other,  into  one  connected  history,  is  no  easy  task; 
nor  is  it  easy  to  decide  what  arrangement  of  the  matter  would  be  most  favor- 
able to  its  accomplishment.  On  the  whole,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  adopt 
the  form  of  annals.  By  giving  the  events  of  each  year  in  one  chapter,  the 
gradual  increase  of  the  resources,  operations  and  influence  of  the  Board  are 
better  exhibited,  and  the  chronological  order  of  events  is  more  readily  seen 
and  remembered.  In  the  history  of  each  year  after  1812,  the  account  of  the 
annual  meeting  and  domestic  operations  of  the  Board  is  placed  first ;  then 


VIU  PREFACE. 


that  of  the  Bombay  or  Mahralta  mission  ;  then  that  of  the  mission  to  Ceylon  ; 
and  afterwards  of  the  other  missions,  always  in  the  same  order.  By  this  ar- 
rangement, the  account  of  any  mission  for  any  year  is  easily  found  ;  and  those 
who  choose,  may  read  the  history  of  each  mission  continuously,  from  begin- 
ning to  end. 

Names,  dates  and  numbers  have  been  given  with  as  much  particularity  as 
seemed  consistent  with  the  design  of  making  a  readable  work.  Whatever  of 
these  is  found  wanting  in  the  body  of  the  history,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  supplied 
by  the  tables  m  the  Appendix  ;  where,  also,  some  important  documents  will 
be  found,  which  could  not  be  conveniently  introduced  into  the  body  of  the 
work. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  work  of  this  size  cannot  narrate  all  the  interesting 
events  that  have  occurred  in  the  operations  of  ihe  Board  and  its  missions.  The 
most  that  can  be  done,  is  to  give  such  a  selection  as  shall  best  show  the  gener- 
al character  and  results  of  each  mission,  and  of  the  whole  system.  This  part 
of  the  work  has  been  attended  with  considerable  difficulties,  some  of  which  are, 
from  their  nature,  insurmountable.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  know  what 
have  been  the  results  of  any  particular  measure  ;  or  what,  of  the  events  that 
occur  in  the  vicinity  of  a  mission,  are  produced  by  its  influence.  Many  of  the 
transactions,  too,  are  of  such  recent  date,  that  their  most  important  influence 
is  yet  to  be  exerted,  and  can  be  known  only  in  future  years.— For  similar 
reasons,  due  prominence  may  not  always  have  been  given  to  the  labors  of 
each  missionary. 

The  account  of  missions  previous  to  the  formation  of  the  American  Board, 
embracing  a  period  of  190  years,  could  be  only  a  brief  summary  of  the  princi- 
pal enterprises  and  their  more  important  results.  It  has  cost  an  unexpected 
amount  of  labor.  The  subject  needs  and  deserves  such  attention  as  it  has  not 
yet  received. 

Several  of  the  maps  are  struck  from  cerographic  plates,  prepared  by  Mr. 
Morse,  the  inventor  of  cerography.  Those  of  the  several  islands  of  the  Sand- 
wich group  are  copied  from  a  map  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  drawn,  engraved 
and  printed  at  Lahainaluna,  by  natives  who  have  been  educated  under  the 
care  of  the  American  Mission.  Several  others  have  been  prepared  expressly 
for  this  work,  from  manuscript  and  printed  maps  furnished  by  missionaries, 
and  never  before  published  in  this  country. 

It  may  be  proper  to  state,  that  neither  the  Board,  nor  any  of  its  officers, 
are  responsible  for  the  character  or  contents  of  this  work.  At  the  request  of 
the  author,  the  Prudential  Committee  have  granted  important  facilities  for 
preparing  it.  For  the  use  made  of  them,  the  author  alone  is  responsible.  If 
they  have  been  so  used  as  to  promote  the  great  and  good  object  for  which  the 
Board  exists,  he  will  not  have  labored  in  vain. 
Boston,  Nov.  1,  1839. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introduction.     Protestant  Missions  previous  to  the   formation  of 
THE  American  Board. 

First  settlement  of  New  England.— Eliot.— Mayhew.— Influence  of  New  Eng- 
land example  in  Europe. — Societies  formed. — Praying  Indians  in  New  Eng- 
land.—Parkes,  Horton,  Sergeant,  Edwards.— The  Moravians.— Brainerd, 
Samson  Occum,  Wiieelock,  Kirkland. — Societies  formed  about  the  beginning 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century. — Reflections. 

The  first  settlement  of  New  England  was  a  missionary  enterprise. 
The  "  Pilcrrims"  had  escaped  from  persecution  by  retiring  to  Holland. 
They  left  Holland  and  came  to  this  continent,  for  the  sake  of  preserving 
their  rights  as  Englishmen  by  settling  under  English  jurisdiction;  of 
preserving  their  descendants  from  the  contagion  of  false  doctrines  and 
corrupt  examples ;  and  above  all,  of  extending  the  Redeemer's  King- 
dom in  lands  where  Christ  had  not  been  named.  Such  is  their  own 
account  of  their  own  motives.  The  royal  charter  of  the  Plymouth 
Company  mentions  the  depopulation  of  the  country  by  pestilence  and 
war,  and  its  freedom  from  the  claims  of  any  Christian  power;  and  then 
goes  on  to  say:  "In  contemplation  and  serious  consideration  whereof, 
we  have  thought  it  fit,  according  to  our  kingly  duty,  so  much  as  in  us 
lieth,  to  second  and  follow  God's  sacred  will,  rendering  reverend  thanks 
to  his  Divine  Majesty  for  his  gracious  favor  in  laying  open  and  revealing 
the  same  unto  us  before  any  other  Christian  prince  or  state ;  by  which 
means,  without  offence,  and  as  we  trust  to  his  glory,  we  may  with  bold- 
ness go  on  to  the  settling  of  so  hopeful  a  work,  which  tendeth  to  the 
reilucing  and  conversion  of  such  savages  as  remain  wandering  in  deso- 
lation and  distress,  to  civil  society  and  Christian  religion."  And  in 
this,  the  charter  professes  to  favor  the  "  worthy  disposition"  of  the  peti- 
tioners to  whom  it  was  granted.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  for  John 
Robinson,  the  pastor  of  that  part  of  the  church  which  remained  at  Ley- 
den,  to  exclaim,  in  his  letter  to  the  governor  of  the  colony,  "  0  that 
you  had  converted  some,  before  you  killed  any."  But  efforts  for  the 
conversion  of  the  natives  were  not  delayed.  As  early  as  December,  1621, 
Elder  Robert  Cushman  informed  his  friends  in  England  that  many  of  the 
Indians,  especially  of  their  youth,  were  found  to  be  of  a  very  tractable 
disposition,  both  to  religion  and  humanity ;  that  if  the  colonists  had 
means,  they  would  bring  up  hundreds  of  their  children,  both  to  labor  and 
learning ;  and  that  young  men  in  England,  who  desired  "  to  further  the 

1 


'i'  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

gospel  among  those  poor  heathen,"  would  do  well  to  come  over  and 
spend  then-  estates,  their  time  and  their  labors  in  that  good  work.  It 
was  indeed  hnpossible,  during  a  few  of  the  first  years  of  their  contest 
with  hardships  and  privations,  to  make  such  public  and  systematic  ef- 
forts for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  as  were  desirable;  but  individuals, 
both  ministers  and  laymen,  appear  to  have  seized  such  opportunities  as 
they  could  command,  to  make  known  and  recommend  the  gospel  to  their 
heathen  neighbors ;  and  in  this  way,  much  was  done  towards  diffusing 
a  knowledge  of  Christianity,  and  producing  an  impression  m  its  favo?. 
A  few  of  the  natives  even  gave  satisfactory  evidence,  living  and  dying, 
of  real  conversion  to  God.  In  1636,  the  government  of  the  PlymoutTi 
colony  enacted  laws  to  provide  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  among 
the  Indians,  and  with  the  concurrence  of  the  principal  chiefs,  for  con- 
stituting courts  to  punish  misdemeanors;  measures  which  would  not 
have  been  adopted,  had  not  the  influence  of  Christianity  been  already 
very  considerable. 

The  Massachusetts  colony  M'as  established  with  similar  desio-ns.  Its 
charter  declares  that  "  to  win  and  incite  the  natives  of  that  country  to 
the  knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only  true  God  and  Saviour  of  man- 
kind and  the  Christian  faith,  in  our  royal  intention  and  the  adventurers' 
free  profession  is  the  principal  end  of  the  plantation."  The  seal  of  the 
colony  had  as  its  device,  the  figure  of  an  Indian,  with  a  label  at  his 
mouth,  on  which  was  inscribed  the"  Macedonian  cry,"  "  Come  over  and 
help  us."  And  here  also,  as  at  Plymouth,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
settlement,  occasional  labors  diffused  some  knowledge  of  Christianity, 
and  were  followed  by  some  instances  of  conversion. 

When  the  colonies  had  been  successfully  commenced,  multitudes 
jomed  them  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  religious  liberty  ;  so  that  this  was 
the  leading  object  with  a  large  majority,  probably,  of  those  who  came 
over  during  the  first  twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  is  so  spoken  of  in  some 
of  the  public  documents  of  that  period  ;  though  the  missionary  designs 
of  the  colonies  were  never  disavowed,  and  seldom  forgotten.  The 
appeals  to  sympathy  made  by  various  sects,  professing  to  be  deprived  of 
some  of  the  religious  liberty  for  which  our  fathers  braved  the  ocean  and 
the  wilderness;  the  important  influence  which  the  settlements  of  New 
England  has  exerted  on  the  cause  of  religious  and  of  civil  liberty 
throughout  the  world;  the  intense  concentration  of  feeling  concerning 
hberty  produced  by  the  struggle  for  independence ;  the  fact  that  worldly- 
minded  statesmen  and  orators  love  to  write  and  speak  of  the  spirit  of 
hberty  more  than  of  the  spirit  of  Christ ;  all  these  and  many  other 
causes  have  led  later  writers  to  represent  the  desire  of  religious  liberty 
as  the  principal  motive  which  led  to  the  first  settlement  of^New  Eng- 
land, and  to  forget  that  which,  at  the  first,  was  really  predominant  m 
the  minds  of  the  Pilgrims.  But  justice  to  the  memory  of  those  Pil- 
grims, and  to  the  cause  of  missions,  requires  that  the  truth  should  be 
restored  to  its  place. 

These  Pilgrims  were  the  pioneers  of  the  Protestant  world,  in  their 


1820-1810.]  FIRST   MISSIONS.      ELIOT.  3 

attempts  to  convert  the  heathen  of  foreign  lands.*  The  Swedes,  in- 
deed, in  the  precechng  century,  made  some  efforts  for  the  conversion  of 
the  remaining  heathen  within  their  own  horders.  In  1655,  Nicholas 
Durand,  of  Villagagnon,  induced  some  French  Protestants  to  accompany 
him  in  an  attempt  to  plant  a  colony  in  Brazil ;  and  at  his  request,  several 
pastors  were  sent  out  from  Geneva,  the  next  year,  to  join  the  colony. 
Calvin  and  the  other  members  of  the  Synod  of  Geneva  doubtless  hoped 
that  this  colony  would  promote  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  ;  but  Du- 
rand soon  proved  an  unprincipled  adventurer,  avowed  his  adherence  to 
the  church  of  Rome,  put  three  of  the  Genevan  teachers  to  death,  and 
drove  others  back  to  Europe.  The  Portuguese  massacred  the  remain- 
ing colonists,  and  thus  became  undisputed  masters  of  Brazil.  The 
Dutch,  too,  had  commenced  some  commercial  establishments  in  the 
East  Indies,  where  they  provided  the  means  of  Protestant  worship  for 
themselves,  and  one  individual,  at  least,  employed  some  of  his  leisure 
in  labors  for  the  heathen  around  him.  Historians  mention  no  other 
Protestant  movements  for  extending  the  knowledge  of  Christianity  in 
heathen  lands,  before  1620 ;  and  there  seems  to  be  no  propriety  in  class- 
ing any  of  these  among  foreign  missionary  enterprises. 

But  concerning  the  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  colonies,  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  They  were  missionary  colonies.  They  were  self-support- 
ing missions,  of  the  only  kind  that  can  succeed.  And  they  were  com- 
posed of  men  who  possessed  the  qualities  indispensable  for  such  an  un- 
dertaking. They  went  on  their  own  responsibility,  and  at  their  own 
expense ;  determined,  by  the  help  of  God,  in  whom  they  trusted,  to 
make  themselves  a  home,  to  live  and  die  and  leave  their  posterity,  in 
the  land  of  the  heathen  whose  salvation  they  sought. 

In  1646,  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  passed  an  act  for  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians;  and  in  the  same  year  the 
celebrated  John  Eliot  began  his  labors  at  Nonantum,  now  a  part  of 
Newton.  He  had  commenced  the  study  of  the  native  language  in  1641. 
He  had  now  become  able  to  converse  and  preach  in  it ;  and  had  conversed 
with  the  natives  from  various  places  in  the  vicinity,  and  knew  how  they 
were  affected  towards  the  gospel.  The  time  had  come  to  establish 
regular  preaching  among  them  on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  neighboring  min- 
isters agreed  to  supply  his  pulpit  in  his  absence.  On  the  28th  of  Octo- 
ber, he  and  three  others  went  to  Nonantum,  where  an  assembly  of 
Indians  met  him  by  invitation.  After  prayer,  he  addressed  them  in  a 
sermon  an  hour  and  a  quarter  long,  in  which  he  stated  the  leading 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  applied  them  to  the  condition  of  his  hear- 
ers. He  then  asked  them  whether  they  understood  his  discourse,  and 
they  replied  that  they  understood  all.     A  fortnight  afterwards,  he  met 

*  The  Propaganda,  at  Rome,  the  first  Papal  institution  designed  exclu- 
sively for  foroigii  missions,  was  Ibunded  in  1622  ;  the  Congregalion  of  Priests 
of  Foreign  Missions,  at  Paris,  and  the  Parisian  Seminary  for  Foreign  Missions, 
in  or  after  1663. 


INTRODUCTION. 


[1620-1810. 


a  still  larger  assembly  at  the  same  place.  After  spending  a  short  time 
in  instructino-  the  children,  he  addressed  them  for  about  one  hour  on  the 
nature  of  God,  the  plan  of  salvation  through  Christ,  the  necessity  of 
faith,  and  the  awful  consequences  of  neglecting  the  gospel.  The  whole 
assembly  appeared  serious  and  attentive  ;  and  after  the  sermon,  an  aged 
Indian  rose  up,  and  with  tears  inquired  whether  it  was  not  too  late  for 
such  an  old  man  as  he,  who  was  now  near  death,  to  repent  and  seek 
after  God.  In  conclusion,  the  Indians  said  they  thanked  God  for  the 
visit,  and  for  the  wonderful  things  they  had  heard.  At  his  third  visit, 
the  assembly  was  less  numerous ;  for  the  poioows,  the  priests,  or  more 
properly,  conjurers,  had  forbidden  the  people  to  attend.  But  those  pre- 
sent were  serious,  and  seemed  much  affected  by  the  discourse.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  several  Indians  came  and  requested  to  be  admitted  into 
English  families  and  taught  the  Christian  religion  ;  and  at  the  next 
meeting,  all  present  offered  their  children  for  instruction.  A  settlement 
of  "  praying  Indians"  was  soon  formed  at  Nonantum  ;  but  in  1651  it 
was  removed  to  Natick,  where  a  church  was  organized  in  1661  and 
the  community  flourished  for  a  considerable  time.  The  labors  of  Eliot 
w^ere  not  confined  to  this  settlement.  He  travelled  extensively  among 
the  Indians,  from  Cape  Cod  to  Worcester  County.  He  visited  Martha's 
Vineyard  ;  and  once  preached  the  gospel  to  the  famous  King  Philip  of 
Pokanoket,  who  rejected  it  with  disdain.  He  translated  the  Bible  and 
other  Christian  books  into  the  language  of  the  Indians.  Of  his  Bible, 
1500  copies  were  published  in  1663,  and  2000  in  1685.  They  were 
printed  at  Cambridge,  and  were  the  only  Bibles  printed  in  America  till 
a  much  later  period.  Eliot  died  in  1690,  aged  85.  He  was  ready  to 
depart,  and  "  Welcome  joy"  was  one  of  his  last  expressions.  He  has 
ever  since  been  called  "  the  apostle  of  the  Indians." 


View  01  the  Indian  JVleeting-liouse  at  JMarslipee. 


But  Eliot  was  not  the  first  who  preached  to  the  Indians  of  New 
'     '      Thomas  Mayhew  began  his  labors  at  Martha's  Vineyard  in 


England 


1620-1810.]  MISSIONARY   SOCIETIES   FORMED.  5 

1643.  After  laboring  successfully  for  three  years,  he  sailed  for  Eng- 
land, to  solicit  aid.  The  ship  was  lost  on  the  voyage.  His  father, 
Thomas  Mayhew,  who  was  the  proprietor  and  governor  of  the  island, 
though  about  70  years  of  age,  then  engaged  in  the  work,  and  continued 
his  fabors  till  1681,  when  he  died  at  the  age  of  93.  His  grandson 
succeeded  ;  and  for  five  generations,  till  the  death  of  Zechariah  May- 
hew  in  1803,  aged  87,  that  family  supplied  pastors  to  the  Indians  of 
Martha's  Vineyard.  Nantucket  was  included  in  the  scene  of  their 
labors. 

In  Plymouth  colony,  an  Indian  congregation  was  early  gathered  at 
Marshpee,  of  which  the  Rev.  Richard  Bourn  was  pastor.  And  among 
those  who  labored  in  this  work  during  Eliot's  life,  the  names  of  Treat, 
Tupper  and  Cotton  in  Plymouth ;  Gookin,  Thatcher  and  Rawson  in 
Massachusetts ;  and  Fitch  and  Pierson  in  Connecticut,  are  mentioned 
with  distinguished  honor.  As  the  result  of  these  efforts,  there  were  in 
1675,  14  settlements  of  "  praying  Indians,"  and  24  regular  congre- 
gations. In  six  of  these,  churches  had  been  organized.  One  was 
at  Natick,  one  at  Grafton,  one  at  Marshpee,  two  on  Martha's  Vineyard, 
and  one  on  Nantucket.  The  population  of  the  14  towns  was  3600  ; 
and  there  were  24  Indian  preachers. 

These  Indians  were  instructed,  not  only  in  religion,  but  also  in  the 
arts  of  civilized  life.  The  men  became  farmers.  They  ploughed  and 
sowed  and  gathered  in  their  harvests.  The  women  learned  to  spin  and 
weave,  to  sew  and  knit,  and  to  perform  the  various  duties  of  house- 
wifery. Magistrates  were  appointed  to  administer  justice,  and  to  sus- 
tain good  morals.  The  children  were  gathered  into  schools,  and  many 
of  the  teachers  were  educated  Indians.  They  showed,  as  American 
Indians  have  always  showed,  an  uncommon  degree  both  of  readiness 
and  ability  to  throw  off  their  barbarous  habits  and  become  civilized 
men. 

Animating  accounts  of  these  labors  and  conversions  were  written 
from  time  to  time,  and  published  in  England.  They  excited  intense 
interest.  Liberal  contributions  were  made  for  defraying  the  expense  of 
these  labors  of  love.  With  the  sanction  of  Parliament,  collections  were 
taken  up  in  the  churches.  In  1649,  "  The  Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  in  New  England"  was  incorporated.  With  the  funds  raised  for 
that  purpose,  lands  were  purchased,  yielding  an  income  of  more  than 
£500  a  year,  which  appears  to  have  been  faithfully  expended  in  print- 
ing Eliot's  translation  of  the  Bible,  paying  the  salaries  of  Eliot,  May- 
hew,  Bourn  and  other  missionaries,  and  of  several  white  and  Indian 
schoolmasters,  and  in  meeting  divers  other  expenses  incurred  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  work.  On  the  restoration  of  Charles  the  Second, 
the  corporation  was  esteemed  dead  in  law  ;  and  Col.  Bedingfield,  a  Ro- 
man Catholic,  who  had  sold  the  Society  an  estate  worth  ,£322  a  year, 
repossessed  himself  of  the  land,  and  refused  to  repay  the  money  he  had 
received  for  it;  but  in  1661  a  new  charter  was  granted,  and  the  estate 
was  restored  to  the  Society.     The  celebrated  Robert  Boyle  was  among 


6  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

the  most  zealous  and  influential  of  those  who  procured  the  new  charter, 
and  was  made  "  governor"  of  the  Society,  which  office  he  held  for 
thirty  years.  In  this  second  charter,  it  was  called  "  The  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  heathen  natives  of  New  England 
and  the  parts  adjacent  in  America."  Richard  Baxter  was  its  earnest 
and  efficient  friend.  Nor  was  this  all.  Cotton  Mather  was  informed 
by  a  letter  from  Dr.  Luesden,  that  the  example  of  New  England  had 
awakened  the  Dutch  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  in  Cey- 
lon, and  their  other  East  India  possessions,  and  that  multitudes  there  had 
been  converted  to  Christianity.*  And  in  1698,  some  zealous  members 
of  the  Church  of  England,  moved,  Bishop  Burnet  says,  by  the  example 
of  the  Dissenters,  whose  evangelical  labors  they  admired,  formed  the 
"  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,"  which  is  so  well  known 
for  its  labors  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  and  especially  for  the  support 
it  afforded  to  Swartz  and  his  missionary  brethren  in  Southern  India.  In 
1701,  the  English  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts"  was  instituted.  Most  writers  confound  this  with  the  "  Society 
for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  New  England,"  already  mentioned  ;  but 
they  are  distinct  societies,  and  for  many  years  each  carried  on  its  own 
system  of  operations  in  New  England.f  This  was  an  era  of  missionary 
enterprise.     In  1705,  the  Danes  commenced  a  mission  in  Southern  In- 

*  Albert  Cornelius  Ruyl  began  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into 
the  Malay  language,  in  1612.  He  lived  to  finish  only  the  gospels  of  Matthew 
and  Marfc,  which  were  printed  at  Enkhuysen,  in  Holland,  in  1629,  and  again 
at  Amsterdam,  in  1633.  The  gospels  of  Luke  and  John,  translated  by  M.  Van 
Hassel,  a  director  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  were  printed  at  Amster- 
dam, in  1646.  The  Dutch  acquired  some  possessions  in  Formosa,  in  1634,  and 
the  whole  island  fell  into  their  hands  in  1651 ;  but  they  were  expelled  by  the 
Chinese  in  1662.  After  1651,  Robert  Junius  preached  the  gospel  to  the  natives, 
it  is  said,  with  great  success.  His  translation  of  Matthew  and  John  into  the 
language  of  the  island  was  printed  at  Amsterdam,  in  1661.  From  about  this 
time,  the  efforts  of  the  Dutch  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  in  their  East 
Indian  possessions  became  much  more  systematic,  extensive  and  successlul. 
The  missionary  spii-it  which  had  existed  in  intlividuals  among  them  even 
before  1620,  was  roused  to  elBciency  by  the  example  and  success  of  Eliot. 

f  The  '•  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  was  decid- 
edly a  sectarian  institution,  from  its  origin  ;  as  abundantly  appears  from  the 
statements  of  its  historian  and  eulogist,  David  Humphreys,  its  principal  ob- 
ject was,  to  plant  Episcopalianism  in  the  British  colonies.  In  1682,  "that  unre- 
lenting enemy  of  the  liberties  of  New  England,"  Edward  Randolph,  proposed 
to  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  he  had  already  proposed  in  the  council  of  the 
Massachusetts  colony,  that  ministers  of  the  Established  Church  of  England 
should  be  sent  over,  to  be  supported,  in  part,  by  funds  designed  for  missions 
among  the  Indians,  and  in  part,  by  having  the  exclusive  right  of  solemnizing 
marriag'es.  This  plan  was  successfully  opposed.  The  political  party  to  which 
Randolph  belonged,  fell  with  the  expulsion  of  Androsfrom  Massachusetts  and 
James  II.  from  England.  But  the  zealous  Episcopalians  adhered  to  their  de- 
sign, and  at  length  produced  this  society,  which  collected  funds  for  both  ob- 
jects, but  expended  them  mostly  in  supporting  Episcopalian  ministers  in  those 
parts  of  the  colonies  which  were  best  supplied  with  the  means  of  grace.  Their 
course  gave  great  dissatisfaction  at  the  time,  as  appears  from  controversial 
writings  concerning  it,  still  extant. 


1620-1810.]  PHILIP   OF   POKANOKET.  7 

dia,  and  another  in  Greenland  in  1708.  The  "  Society  in  Scotland  for 
Propap;ating  Christian  Knowledge"  was  formed  at  Edinburgh  in  1709. 
In  1725,  Berkeley  the  philosopher,  then  Dean  of  Deny,  and  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Cloyne,  published  his  "  Scheme  for  converting  the  Savage 
Americans  to  Christianity,"  by  a  college  which  he  proposed  to  establish 
at  Bermuda,  and  to  which  he  was  ready  to  devote  his  life  and  fortune. 
Having  obtained  some  private  subscriptions,  and  a  promise  from  the 
government  of  a  grant  of  land  and  <£20,000  in  money,  he  came  to 
Rhode  Island  in  1728 ;  but  the  promise  of  the  government  was  never 
fulfdled,  and  having  made  some  generous  donations  to  Yale  College  and 
to  several  clergymen,  he  returned  to  Europe  in  1731.  In  1732,  the 
first  Moravian  mission  was  undertaken.  It  was  to  the  slaves  in  the 
West  Indies.  The  Moravian  mission  to  Greenland  was  commenced  the 
next  year.  So  extensively  had  the  flame  of  missionary  zeal  already 
pervaded  the  Protestant  world. — But  let  us  return  to  New  England. 

Philip  of  Pokanoket  had  resolved  to  exterminate  the  Europeans 
from  New  England  ;*  and  for  this  purpose,  endeavored  to  combine  the 
■whole  force  of  all  the  Indian  tribes  in  a  simultaneous  attack  upon  them. 
The  war  began  in  1675.  A  warrior  and  statesman  so  sagacious  as 
Philip  could  not  overlook  the  Christian  Indians.  He  must  have  done  all  in 
his  power,  both  by  persuasion  and  by  threats,  to  procure  their  assistance; 
and  it  would  have  been  strange  if  none  had  been  found,  of  all  the  unre- 
newed in  the  Christian  towns,  to  regard  his  enterprise  with  favor ;  and 
it  was  inevitable  that  they  should  be  suspected.  Yet  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  very  few,  if  any  of  them,  entered  into  Philip's  designs. 
Eliot  loudly  asserted  their  innocence,  and  thereby  brought  upon  himself 
no  little  odium.  They  suffered  from  both  parties.  Some  were  put  to 
death  by  Philip,  for  betraying  his  designs ;  some  fell  in  battle  against 
his  followers ;  some  were  executed  by  the  authority  of  the  Massachu- 
setts colony,  as  his  accomplices  ;  some  were  the  victims  of  a  partisan 
warfare,  carried  on  against  all  Indians  indiscriminately.  Finally,  the 
legislature,  probably  with  the  double  view  of  protecting  them  and 
guarding  against  them,  ordered  them  all  to  be  gathered  into  five  towns, 
which  they  must  not  leave  without  a  white  protector;  and  afterwards, 
500  of  them  were  removed  to  Deer  Island,  and  other  islands  in  Boston 
Bay.  When  they  were  released  from  this  confinement,  they  found 
many  of  their  towns  in  ruins,  their  fields  laid  waste,  and  their  hopeful 
beginnings  in  civilization  blasted.  They  renewed  their  attempts,  but 
never  fully  recovered  from  the  discouragement  and  despondency  which 
the  events  of  this  war  had  brought  upon  them. 

Still,  the  progress  of  the  gospel  among  the  Indians,  though  inter- 

*  It  does  not  appear  that  this  war  was  provoked  by  any  injuslice  or  injury 
received  from  the  colonists.  Philip  himscll"  never  advanced  such  a  pretense. 
It  was,  on  his  part,  purely  a  matter  of  "state  necessity," — to  prevent  the 
growth  ol'a  community,  wliich  would  soon  become  too  strong  for  liis  people  to 
cope  with.  It  was  the  same  in  principle,  as  the  wars  underlaken  in  Europe 
"  to  preserve  the  balance  of  power." 


8  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

rupted  and  retarded,  went  on.  In  1685,  the  praying  Indians  in  Ply- 
mouth colony  were  estimated  at  1439.  In  1696,  there  were  30  Indian 
churches  in  Massachusetts,  some  of  which  had  Indian  pastors.  In  1698, 
the  whole  number  of  Indians  in  Massachusetts  is  said  to  have  been 
4168,  and  the  number  of"  converted"  Indians  3000.  Probably,  in  this 
last  estimate,  all  catechumens  were  reckoned  as  converts.  A  great  part 
of  those  who  obstinately  adhered  to  their  ancient  paganism,  had  either 
perished  in  Philip's  war,  or  left  the  country  at  its  close,  and  become 
amalgamated  with  distant  tribes.  Others  of  them  were  destroyed  by 
the  vices,  from  which  nothing  but  conversion  to  Christianity  can  save 
barbarians  who  dwell  among  civilized  men. 

In  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  missionary  efforts  were  less  suc- 
cessful. The  Narragansetts  were  generally  and  decidedly  opposed  to 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  ;  though  they  permitted  Roger  Williams, 
as  a  personal  favor,  to  preach  among  them  occasionally,  when  he  could 
find  leisure  from  his  numerous  controversies  and  secular  cares.  When 
the  Massachusetts  colony  attempted  by  negotiation  to  prevent  them  from 
joining  Philip,  they  demanded,  as  one  article  of  the  treaty,  that  no  at- 
tempts should  be  made  for  their  conversion.  To  this,  of  course,  the 
Puritans  could  not  agree.  When  Mayhew  requested  the  privilege  ot 
preaching  among  them,  one  of  their  sachems  told  him  to  preach  to  his 
own  countrymen,  and  make  them  honest  in  the  first  place.  Yet  some- 
thing was  done.  Mr.  Fitch  and  Mr.  Pierson  labored  industriously  for 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  about  them.  The  Society  for  propagating 
the  Gospel  in  New  England  made  donations  "  for  the  encouragement  of 
well-deserving  Indians"  among  the  Pequots  and  other  tribes,  and  the 
Governor  of  the  New  Haven  colony  was  one  of  the  agents  for  distri- 
buting them.  Mr.  James,  of  Easthampton,  fitted  himself  for  the  work 
of  instructing  the  Indians  on  Long  Island,  and  was  engaged  in  that  em- 
ployment in  1660,  at  the  expense  of  the  same  society.  And,  finally, 
before  the  commencement  of  Philip's  war,  there  were  in  the  vicinity  of 
Norwich,  Ct.,  40  converted  Indians  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Fitch,  pastor 
of  the  church  in  Norwich  ;  but  Uncas,  the  great  sachem  of  that  region, 
would  not  suffer  any  of  his  people  to  be  gathered  into  Christian  towns. 
Subsequent  labors  were  more  successful. 

In  1733,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parks,  sustained  by  the  same  society,  began 
to  preach  to  the  Indians  in  Westerly  and  Charlestown,  R.  I.  For  the 
first  ten  years,  he  seemed  to  labor  almost  in  vain.  But  in  February, 
1743,  a  number  of  Christian  Indians  from  Stonington,  Ct.,came  to  visit 
their  countrymen ;  and  from  that  time  the  awakening  seemed  to  be  al- 
most universal.  They  abandoned  their  dances  and  drunken  revels,  and 
crowded  the  places  of  worship.  Within  a  little  more  than  a  year,  more 
than  60  were  received  into  the  church.  The  whole  community  appears 
to  have  become  nominally  Christians.  A  few  years  later,  the  number 
of  truly  pious  persons  among  the  Narragansetts,  was  thought  to  be  at 
least  70 ;  of  the  Pequots,  about  20 ;  of  the  Neantics,  6  or  7 ;  of  the 
Mohegans,  20  or  30 ;  of  the  Montauk  tribe,  on  the  eastern  end  of  Long 


1620-1810.]  THE   STOCKBRIDGE   INDIANS.  9 

Island,  -where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Horton  had  labored  for  several  years,  15  or 
16 ;  besides  a  considerable  number  of  the  Stonington  tribe. 

Mr.  Horton,  who  has  just  been  mentioned,  was  sustained  by  the 
Society  in  Scotland  for  promoting  Christian  Knowledge.  In  1730,  that 
society  had  appointed  a  committee  at  Boston,  through  whom  some  mis- 
sions had  been  commenced  with  little  success.  This  committee  continues, 
to  the  present  time,  to  expend  a  part  of  the  annual  income  of  that 
society ;  and  the  mission  of  the  American  Board  among  the  Stockbridge 
Indians  is  now  in  part  sustained  by  its  appropriations. — In  1741,  the 
Society  appointed  a  similar  committee  at  New  York,  and  by  them  Mr. 
Horton  was  stationed  on  Long  Island.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three 
years,  he  baptized  35  adults  and  44  children.  The  mission  was  aban- 
doned in  1753,  but  the  church  continued  for  many  years  afterwards. 

In  1734,  Mr.  John  Sergeant  resigned  his  office  as  tutor  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, to  commence  a  mission  among  the  Stockbridge  Indians  ;  or  rather, 
among  the  wandering  Mohegans,  whom  his  labors  ultimately  collected 
at  Stockbridge  into  a  tribe  which  still  bears  that  name.  His  hearers 
were  few  at  first,  but  soon  increased ;  and  in  a  few  months  he  baptized 
more  than  50  of  them.  They  began  to  collect  and  build  their  tow^n  in 
May,  1736.  That  year  they  planted  three  times  as  much  corn  as  they 
had  ever  done  before.  A  house  of  worship  and  a  school-house  were 
erected  for  their  accommodation  at  the  expense  of  the  province.  In  about 
three  years  he  was  able  to  preach  in  the  Mohegan  language,  into  which 
he  afterwards  translated  nearly  the  w^hole  New  Testament,  considerable 
parts  of  the  Old,  and  some  other  religious  works.  Placing  his  chief 
hopes  of  success  in  the  education  of  youth,  he  formed  the  plan  of  a 
Manual  Labor  Seminary,  in  which  the  pupils  should  contribute  to  their 
own  support,  the  boys  by  agricultural  labor,  and  the  girls  by  house- 
wifery. Subscriptions  were  solicited  for  that  purpose  in  England,  but 
they  amounted  only  to  an  insufficient  sum.  Mr.  Hollis,  however,  the 
founder  of  the  Hollis  professorship  at  Harvard  College,  provided  for 
the  education  of  12  boys.  Afterwards,  he  doubled  the  number,  and 
finally,  as  some  say,  raised  it  to  36.  Land  was  procured,  a  school- 
house  was  built,  and  some  of  the  boys  were  collected  ;  when  Mr. 
Sergeant  was  removed  by  death,  at  the  age  of  39,  in  July,  1749.  The 
Indians,  who  had  learned  to  love  him  as  a  father  and  a  friend,  thronged 
around  his  death-bed,  where  he  reminded  them  of  his  past  instructions, 
and  charged  them  to  remember  and  practise  what  he  had  taught,  that 
they  might  meet  him  in  peace  in  another  world.  Their  improvement, 
during  his  ministry,  had  been  great.  When  he  first  came  among  them, 
they  were  less  than  50  in  number,  living  wretchedly  and  viciously  in 
miserable  wigwams,  widely  dispersed,  and  frequently  changing  place. 
He  left  them,  218  in  number,  settled  in  a  thriving  town,  with  20 
houses  built  in  the  English  style.  He  had  baptized  182,  of  whom  129 
still  resided  there,  and  42  were  communicants.  Besides  the  charity- 
school,  there  were  55  scholars  in  a  school  under  Mr.  Woodbridge.  After 
his  death,  Mr.  Woodbridge  had  the  charge  of  the  mission,  till  that  great 

2 


10  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

and  good  man,  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  had  been  dismissed  from  North- 
ampton, was  placed  at  its  head.  He  labored  there  for  six  years,  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Society,  of  the  Indians,  and  of  the  white 
inhabitants;  but,  as  will  usually  be  the  case  where  duties  are  ably  and 
conscientiously  performed  by  a  man  whose  ruling  passion  is  for  some 
other  employment,  wnth  little  success.*  Here  he  wrote  his  treatises  on 
the  Freedom  of  the  Will,  and  on  Original  Sin.  After  laboring  here 
six  years,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  college  at  Princeton,  N.  J., 
but  died  soon  after  entering  on  the  duties  of  his  office.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded at  Stockbridge  by  Mr.  West,  and  he  by  Mr.  John  Sergeant,  son 
of  the  founder  of  the  mission.  During  the  war  of  the  revolution, 
many  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians  served  in  the  American  army,  and 
they  lost  much  in  respect  to  men,  morals  and  wealth.  After  the  war,  a 
part  of  the  tribe,  and  still  later  the  remainder,  removed  to  the  central 
part  of  New  York.  Their  next  removal  was  to  the  banks  of  the  White 
river,  in  Indiana;  the  next  to  Green  Bay,  in  Michigan  ;  and  the  next, 
in  1834,  to  their  present  residence,  on  the  east  side  of  lake  Winnebago. 
The  church,  which  had  become  extinct,  was  re-organized  at  New 
Stockbridge,  N.  Y.,  in  1818,  with  eleven  members.  In  1827,  it  came 
under  the  care  of  the  American  Board. 

In  1734,  the  same  year  in  which  Sergeant  began  his  labors  at 
Stockbridge,  the  Moravians,  or  United  Brethren,  commenced  a  mission 
to  the  Creeks  in  Georgia;  but  the  inhabitants  being  dissatisfied  with 
their  refusal  to  bear  arms  against  the  Spaniards,  who  were  attempting 
to  expel  the  colonists  from  the  country,  they  retired  to  Pennsylvania, 
where  they  commenced  their  town  of  Bethlehem  on  the  river  Lehigh. 
The  accounts  which  one  of  them,  who  returned  to  Europe,  gave  of  the 
condition  of  the  Indians,  so  excited  the  missionary  zeal  of  his  brethren, 
that  many  offered  themselves  for  the  service,  and  twelve  were  ap- 
pointed. In  1739,  Christian  Henry  Ranch  was  sent  to  New  York,  to 
commence  a  mission.  On  his  arrival  in  July,  1740,  he  soon  became 
acquainted  with  two  Mohegans,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Shekomeko, 
a  place  about  25  miles  from  the  tludson,  nearly  east  from  Kingston, 
and  on  the  border  of  Sharon,  Ct.  After  patiently  enduring  much  dis- 
heartening opposition  from  both  Indians  and  white  men  till  the  spring 
of  1742,  his  instructions,  and  especially  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement, 
began  to  take  effect,  and  several  were  baptized.  Among  them  were 
the  two  with  whom  he  first  became  acquainted  in  New  York.  The 
gospel  now  made  rapid  progress.  Indians  came  from  other  settlements, 
some  of  them  25  miles,  to  hear  the  preacher  speak  "  of  God,  who  be- 
came man,  and  loved  the  Indians  so  much,  that  he  gave  his  life  to  save 
them  from  the  devil  and  from  the  service  of  sin."  Several  Brethren 
now  joined  Ranch.  They  supported  themselves  chiefly  by  working 
with  their  hands  for  the  Indians,  and  lived  and  dressed  in  the  Indian 

*  It  appears  from  Dr.  S.  E.  Dwight's  account  of  his  life,  that  the  errors  of 
others  placed  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  success. 


1620-1810.]  THE   UNITED   BRETHREN.  11 

style.  They  extended  their  labors  to  neighborino;  settlements,  both  of 
Indians  and  of  white  men,  in  Connecticut  and  in  New  York.  Brethren 
from  Bethlehem,  and  from  Europe,  and  among  the  rest,  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf,  visited  them,  and  travelled  and  preached  among  their  people.  But 
they  were  not  free  from  the  troubles  that  usually  attend  missions  to  the 
Indians.  The  rum-sellers  in  the  vicinity  were  alarmed  at  the  loss  of 
their  gains,  and  labored  industriously  to  seduce  the  Indians  into  intem- 
perance and  other  vices.  Amoug  the  whites,  the  Brethren  were  repre- 
sented as  in  league  with  the  French  in  Canada,  and  as  furnishing  the 
Indians  with  arms  to  murder  the  whites.  The  country  was  alarmed, 
garrisons  were  raised,  and  some  white  settlers  forsook  their  plantations, 
and  retired  to  less  exposed  regions.  The  Brethren  were  called  upon  to 
serve  in  the  militia,  and  harassed  with  prosecutions  to  enforce  compli- 
ance. Finally,  an  act  of  the  legislature  was  obtained,  requiring  all 
suspected  persons  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance ;  and  another,  forbid- 
ding the  Brethren  to  instruct  the  Indians,  or  to  appear  among  them 
without  having  first  taken  the  oath.  As  they  had  religious  scruples 
concerning  all  oaths,  they  retired  to  Bethlehem,  and  soon  after  invited 
their  flock  to  follow  them.  The  Indians  were  unwilling  to  .leave  their 
ancient  homes;  but  white  claimants  seized  their  land,  and  set  a  watch 
to  prevent  the  occasional  visits  of  the  Brethren  ;  and  at  last  a  consider- 
able number  of  them  complied. 

Only  temporary  buildings  were  erected  for  the  Indians  at  Bethle- 
hem. A  tract  of  200  acres  of  land  was  purchased  about  30  miles  farther 
up  the  Lehigh,  w^here  a  new  town  was  commenced,  which  they  called 
Gnadenhuetten,  or  Tents  of  Grace.  To  this  place  the  remaining  con- 
verts from  New  York  and  Connecticut  gradually  repaired,  and  the 
settlement  increased  till  it  contained  500  souls.  More  land  was  bought 
and  cultivated,  a  saw-mill  was  built,  and  the  traiTick  in  lumber  with  the 
towns  down  the  Lehigh  was  commenced ;  but  hunting  continued  to  be 
an  important  means  of  support.  Still,  as  many  companies  of  travelling 
Indians  must  be  entertained,  to  conciliate  their  favor  and  prepare  them 
to  receive  the  gospel,  it  was  necessary  to  furnish  a  part  of  their  provi- 
sions from  Bethlehem.  As  the  congregation  at  Gnadenhuetten  grew 
strong,  the  Brethren  extended  their  labors  to  other  places,  and  especially 
to  the  country  on  the  Susquehannah,  where  several  permanent  missions 
were  commenced. 

In  1753,  several  Indian  tribes  farther  north  were  secretly  preparing 
to  join  the  French  in  Canada,  in  a  war  upon  the  English  colonies  ;  and 
for  this  reason  they  wished  to  remove  the  Christian  Indians  at  Gnaden- 
huetten from  the  country  which  they  intended  soon  to  make  a  theatre 
of  war.  Repeated  messages  were  sent  them  in  the  name  of  the  Six 
Nations,  and  of  other  tribes,  urging  them  to  remove  to  places  farther  in 
the  interior,  and  even  threatening  them  with  vengeance  if  they  refused. 
At  length  the  war  commenced,  and  the  whole  region  was  filled  with 

•  •  •  r    T 

bloodshed  and  dismay.  One  night  in  November,  1755,  a  party  of  In- 
dians in  the  French  interest  attacked  the  mission  house  while  the  family 


12  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

was  at  supper.  Several  of  the  inmates  were  shot,  ara  tne  building  was 
set  on  fire.  Eleven  men,  women  and  children  perished,  and  only  five 
escaped.  Several,  who  had  retreated  to  the  garret,  were  consumed  by 
the  flames.  When  the  report  of  muskets  was  first  heard,  some  of  the 
Christian  Indians  offered  to  attack  the  enemy,  but  were  dissuaded.  The 
whole  congregation  then  fled  to  the  neighboring  forests,  and  the  invaders 
destroyed  their  town.  The  congregation  retired  to  Bethlehem.  Here, 
and  at  Nain,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  they  dwelt,  amidst  many 
dangers  and  trials,  till  the  return  of  peace.  In  1763,  the  pagan  Indians 
again  commenced  hostilities.  The  usual  atrocities  of  Indian  warfare 
were  enacted  all  along  the  frontier.  The  white  people  were  exasperated 
against  all  Indians,  feared  all,  and  trusted  none.  The  Brethren  and 
their  converts  were  threatened  with  destruction.  The  congregation  at 
Bethlehem  retired  to  Nazareth  ;  and  finally,  to  save  them  from  the 
violence  of  their  enemies,  both  red  and  white,  the  government  of  Penn- 
sylvania removed  them  to  Philadelphia  and  lodged  them  in  the  barracks. 
Even  here  they  were  in  danger ;  and  to  defend  them  from  the  mob,  a 
rampart  was  thrown  up  in  front  of  the  barracks,  and  eight  heavy  can- 
non were  mounted  upon  it.  Here  they  were  supported  at  the  expense 
of  the  government,  and  enjoyed  such  religious  privileges  as  their  situa- 
tion allowed,  till  March,  1765.  While  here,  about  60  of  them  died 
from  the  eflfects  of  confinement,  small-pox  and  fever. 

On  their  release,  they  thought  it  best  to  settle  farther  from  the  fron- 
tier, in  the  Indian  country.  After  a  long  and  tedious  march  through  the 
wilderness,  they  commenced  their  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Sus- 
quehannah,  towards  its  head  waters.  They  called  their  new  town 
Friedenhuetten,  or  Tents  of  Peace.     Here  they  soon  had  a  village  of 

13  Indian  huts  and  more  than  40  wooden  houses  in  European  style, 
covered  with  shingles,  and  furnished  with  windows  and  chimneys ;  a 
neat  and  spacious  chapel  was  erected ;  and  about  250  acres  of  land 
were  planted  with  Indian  corn.  The  fame  of  this  settlement  spread 
among  the  Indians.  Many,  even  from  distant  tribes,  came  to  see  it. 
They  admired  its  beauty,  and  the  hospitality  of  its  inhaljitants,  especial- 
ly in  times  of  famine.  Many  of  their  heathen  visitors  were  awakened, 
and  some  appeared  to  become  Christians  indeed.  The  town  grew.  A 
larger  chapel  was  needed  and  built.  Two  new  school-houses  were 
erected.  A  powerful  awakening  commenced  in  an  Indian  town  about 
30  miles  up  the  river,  and  a  mission  was  established  there. 

In  1767,  David  Zeisberger,  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  missionaries, 
visited  the  Indians  on  the  Alleghany  river,  in  the  northwest  corner  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  found  them  degraded  and  ferocious,  even  beyond  his 
previous  conception;  but  he  obtained  a  favorable  hearing,  and  by 
agreement  visited  them  again  the  next  year,  accompanied  by  two  of  his 
brethren.  Here,  notwithstanding  the  most  violent  opposition  from  a 
part  of  the  people,  they  made  very  gratifying  progress.  A  small  settle- 
ment was  commenced,  and  several  were  baptized.  But  war  breaking 
out  among  the  Indians  in  that  vicinity,  and  a  favorable  offer  being  made 


1620-1810.]  THE    UNITED   BRETHREN.  13 

by  chiefs  farther  west,  the  congregation  embarked  in  April,  1770,  and 
passing  down  the  river,  by  Pittsburgh,  as  far  as  Beaver  Creek,  penetrated 
the  wiklerness  to  the  north,  and  built  Friedenstadt,  or  the  Town  of 
Peace,  a  little  west  of  the  western  line  of  Pennsylvania.  Here,  too, 
they  met  with  opposition  and  success.  The  number  of  their  hearers 
constantly  increased,  and  among  their  converts  was  one  man  who  had 
been  engaged  in  the  massacre  of  the  Brethren  at  Gnadenhuetten.  In 
1772,  they  were  joined  by  the  congregation  at  Friedenhuetten,  241  in 
number,  who  found  it  desirable  to  retire  from  the  gradually  increasing 
white  population.  The  same  year,  Zeisberger  visited,  by  invitation, 
the  chiefs  and  council  of  a  town  on  the  Muskingum,  and  having  made 
the  most  desirable  arrangements  with  the  Indians,  began  to  build  the 
new  town  of  Shoenbrunn,  or  Beautiful  Spring.  Soon  after,  another  part 
of  the  congregation  began  to  build  Gnadenhuetten,  ten  miles  below. 
To  this  vicinity  all  removed  during  the  course  of  this  year  and  the  next. 
Here,  petty  wars  raged  around  them,  and  they  had  many  trials ;  but 
the  Indians  who  had  invited  them  were  pleased  with  their  proceedings, 
and  by  their  request,  a  third  town  was  built,  which  they  called  Lichte- 
nau.  Many  Indians  in  the  vicinity  were  awakened,  and  the  population 
of  the  town  increased.  In  1776,  there  were  414  Christian  Indians  on 
the  Muskingum;  Zeisberger's  Delaware  spelling-book  and  grammar 
had  been  printed  and  introduced  into  the  schools,  and  several  hymns  and 
passages  of  Scripture  were  in  constant  use,  both  in  the  Delaware  and 
Mohegan  languages. 

The  war  of  the  American  revolution  now  commenced,  and  the  In- 
dian tribes  of  the  north  and  west  soon  engaged  in  the  service  of  Great 
Britain.  The  Christian  Indians  took  no  part  in  the  war.  With  this, 
the  ignorant  and  unprincipled  of  both  parties  were  dissatisfied  ;  each 
suspected  them  to  be  in  the  interest  of  the  other,  and  efforts  were  made 
to  force  them  into  the  contest  which  was  raging  around  them.  At  last, 
in  1781,  the  British  Commander  at  Detroit,  believing  them  to  be  in 
favor  of  the  Americans  and  perhaps  acting  as  spies,  sent  an  Indian  force 
accompanied  by  an  English  officer,  who  removed  the  greater  part  of  the 
missionaries  and  people  to  the  Sandusky  river,  near  Lake  Erie,  and  there 
left  them  in  the  wilderness.  Here  they  suffered  much  from  cold  and 
famine.  Meanwhile,  some  members  of  their  community,  who  had  been 
carried  prisoners  to  Pittsburgh  by  the  Americans,  were  released,  and 
returned  to  their  former  homes.  They  were  followed  by  a  band  of 
about  160  ruffians,  determined  to  destroy  the  Christian  Indians  on  the 
Muskingum,  and  then  proceed  to  the  Sandusky  and  destroy  the  mis- 
sionaries and  their  followers  there.  Col.  Gibson,  having  discovered  the 
plot,  sent  messengers  from  Pittsburgh  to  give  the  alarm  ;  but  they  were 
too  late.  The  ruffians  arrived  early  in  March.  They  informed  the  In- 
dians that  they  had  come  to  convey  them  to  Pittsburgh,  where  they 
w'ould  be  safe.  They  persuaded  those  at  two  of  the  towns  to  deliver 
up  their  arms,  made  them  prisoners,  and  then  bade  them,  as  they  were 
Christian  Indians,  to  prepare  for  death  in  a  Christian  manner,  for  they 


14  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

should  all  die  the  next  day.  After  recovering  from  the  first  shock  of 
consternation,  the  victims  saw  that  their  fate  was  inevitable,  and  spent 
the  night  in  prayer,  singing,  and  mutual  exhortation.  On  the  next  day, 
the  men  were  collected  into  one  house  and  the  women  and  children  into 
another,  where  they  were  murdered  and  scalped.  Of  the  whole  number, 
96  were  thus  butchered,  and  only  two  escaped.  The  ruffians  then 
marched  to  the  other  town  ;  but  the  people  there  had  learned  their 
danger  and  fled.  They  then  proceeded  to  the  Sandusky  ;  but  the  mis- 
sionaries had  been  removed  to  Detroit  by  order  of  the  British  comman- 
der, and  the  congregation  was  dispersed. 

From  this  succession  of  calamities,  the  mission  never  fully  recovered  ; 
though  many  praiseworthy  efforts  were  tnade.  By  the  aid  of  the  British 
Governor  at  Detroit,  a  tract  of  land  was  procured  and  a  settlement  was 
commenced,  which  they  called  Gnadenhuetten,  about  30  miles  from 
Detroit,  on  the  American  side  of  Lake  St.  Clair.  Here  parts  of  the 
scattered  congregation  gradually  collected,  and  the  village  and  adjoin- 
ing fields  began  to  be  admired,  when  the  hostility  of  the  surrounding 
Indians  compelled  them  to  abandon  it  in  1786.  The  Congress  of  the 
United  States  had  ordered  that  the  district  belonging  to  the  three  con- 
gregations on  the  Muskingum  should  be  restored  to  them,  with  as  much 
land  as  the  surveyor-general  should  think  proper,  and  the  people  were 
desirous  to  return  ;  but  the  Delaware  and  other  pagan  Indians  positively 
declared  that  they  would  not  suffer  it.  A  temporary  settlement  was 
therefore  effected  near  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  some  40  nnles 
east  from  the  Sandusky,  which  they  called  Pilgerruh,  or  Pilgrim's  Rest. 
Here  they  received  a  very  seasonable  supply  of  provisions  from  Bethle- 
hem, and  of  corn  and  blankets  from  the  United  States  government,  with 
a  promise  of  500  bushels  of  corn  and  other  necessaries  on  their  arrival 
at  the  Muskingum.  These  promised  supplies  were  finally  sent  them  at 
Pilgerruh.  But  the  hostility  of  their  pagan  neighbors  would  not  allow 
the  pilgrims  to  rest  in  their  present  location.  They  left  it  in  1787,  and 
after  several  removals,  finally  settled,  in  1792,  on  a  tract  of  25,000 
acres  assigned  them  by  the  British  government  on  the  river  Thames. 
This  they  called  Fairfield.  It  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  this 
town,  that  Gen.  Harrison  obtained  an  important  victory,  during  the  last 
war  with  Great  Britain,  over  the  British  and  Indian  forces  under  Gen. 
Proctor  and  Tecumseh.  Fairfield  shared  the  fate  of  many  villages  on 
both  sides  of  the  national  boundary.  Its  stores  were  seized  for  the  use 
of  the  invading  army,  and  the  village  was  broken  up.  After  the  war, 
the  Brethren  built  New  Fairfield,  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river. 
Here,  in  1830,  there  was  a  congregation  of  318,  of  whom  38  were 
communicants. 

Peace  having  been  restored  between  the  Indians  and  the  United 
States  after  the  war  of  the  revolution,  and  Congress  having  granted  the 
Brethren  4000  acres  of  land  at  each  of  the  three  stations  on  the  Mus- 
kingum, one  of  the  Brethren  went  to  survey  the  country.  The  ground 
where  they  formerly  dwelt  was  overgrown  with  briers  and  thorns,  and 


1620-1810.]  DAVID   BRAINERD.  15 

infested  with  wild  beasts.  The  chimneys  were  still  standing  in  rows, 
and  the  bones  of  the  slaughtered  Indians  appeared,  mingled  with  the 
coals  and  ashes  of  their  dwellings.  In  1798,  Zeisberger,  then  nearly  80 
years  of  age,  left  Fairfield,  with  his  wife,  one  of  the  Brethren,  and  more 
than  30  Indians,  to  renew  this  mission.  They  built  a  new  town,  which 
they  called  Goshen,  on  the  tract  attached  to  Shoenbrunn.  Here  they 
labored  in  quiet,  and  zealously ;  but  the  Indians  had  mostly  left  the 
region,  and  few  conversions  rewarded  their  labors.  Several  other  set- 
tlements were  attempted  in  subsequent  years  among  the  Indians  in  the 
northwest  part  of  the  United  States ;  but  none  of  them  were  attended 
with  much  success,  or  were  of  long  duration.  On  the  map  attached  to 
Loskeil's  History,  which  was  written  in  1788,  twenty-five  places  are 
marked  in  the  territory  now  comprising  the  States  of  Connecticut,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Michigan,  where  there  were 
or  had  been  Christian  Indians  under  the  care  of  some  of  these  missions. 
Goshen,  the  last  of  their  stations  in  the  northern  part  of  the  United 
States,  was  abandoned  in  1782.  As  the  Indians  had  nearly  all  left  that 
vicinity,  the  missionary  retired  to  Bethlehem,  and  the  small  remains  of 
their  congregation  removed  to  New  Fairfield.  Of  their  mission  to  the 
Cherokees,  the  principal  facts  will  be  noticed  incidentally,  in  the  history 
of  the  American  Board. 

In  1743,  David  Brainerd  commenced  his  short  but  glorious  career. 
He  was  employed  by  the  New  York  committee  of  the  Society  in  Scot- 
land for  propagating  Christian  Knowledge.  By  the  advice  of  Mr.  Ser- 
geant, the  missionary  at  Stockbridge,  he  commenced  his  labors  at  a  place 
called  by  the  Indians  Kaunaumeek,  between  Stockbridge  and  Albany, 
and  not  far  from  New  Lebanon  Springs.  Here,  separated  from  all 
civilized  society,  destitute  of  most  of  the  conveniences  of  life,  obliged  to 
go  or  send  ten  or  fifteen  miles  for  all  his  bread,  and  to  perform  all  his 
household  services  himself,  much  of  the  time  borne  down  by  severe 
sickness,  yet  still  obliged  to  labor,  he  spent  a  year,  living  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  in  a  hut  erected  by  his  own  hands.  He  made  some 
progress  in  the  language,  composed  forms  of  prayer  in  it,  so  as  to  pray 
with  the  Indians  intelligibly,  translated  some  of  the  Psalms,  and  taught 
the  Indians  to  sing.  He  superintended  an  English  school  taught  by  his 
interpreter,  and  gave  both  to  the  children  and  their  parents  such  reli- 
gious instruction  as  he  was  able  to  impart  and  they  to  receive.  He  saw  a 
considerable  reformation  of  morals  among  them,  and  heard  some  anx- 
ious inquiries  after  the  way  of  life.  When  they  learned  that  he  was 
about  to  leave  them,  they  said  they  had  now  heard  so  much  about 
religion,  that  they  could  no  longer  live  without  a  minister,  and  begged 
him  to  stay;  but  finally,  by  his  advice,  the  greater  part  of  them  remov- 
ed to  Stockbridge,  where  they  enjoyed  the  labors  of  Mr.  Sergeant. 

The  region  to  which  Mr.  Brainerd  was  now  sent,  included  the  north 
part  of  New  Jersey,  and  extended  into  Pennsylvania  as  far  as  the  Sus- 
quehannah  ;  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  being  intended  as  his  principal 
station.     He  repeatedly  visited  various  parts  of  this  extensive  parish ; 


16  INTRODUCTION.  [  16  20- 18 10. 

but  the  principal  scene  of  his  labors  and  success  was  at  Crosweeksung, 
since  called  Crossweeks,  about  20  miles  from  Amboy,  towards  Borden- 
town.  He  first  visited  this  place  Jn  June,  1745.  His  first  audience 
consisted  of  four  women  and  a  few  children.  After  hearing  him,  they 
set  off  and  travelled  ten  or  fifteen  miles  to  inform  their  friends  of  his 
arrival,  and  to  invite  their  attendance.  Soon,  his  hearers  increased  to 
more  than  forty.  They  had  formerly  been  unwilling  to  hear  any  thing 
about  the  gospel ;  but  now  they  were  anxious  for  instruction,  and  asked 
him  to  preach  twice  a  day,  that  they  might  learn  as  much  as  possible 
during  his  visit.  This  change  he  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  some  of 
the  Indians  who  had  heard  him  at  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware.  Having 
labored  among  them  about  two  weeks,  he  advised  them  to  apply  to  the 
Rev.  William  Tennent  for  instruction,  and  left  them,  with  a  promise  of 
a  second  visit.  That  visit  was  made  in  August.  Mr.  Tennent  had  been 
there,  and  their  convictions  had  increased  under  his  instructions.  When 
Mr.  Brainerd  arrived,  the  work  received  anew  impulse.  In  a  few  days, 
the  inquiry  became  general,  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved.  The 
scenes  that  followed,  resembled  those  of  the  most  genuine  and  powerful 
revivals  that  occurred  about  that  time  under  the  preaching  of  Edwards, 
theTennents,  and  their  fellow-laborers.  This  visit  lasted  about  a  month ; 
and  during  its  continuance,  fifteen  adults  and  ten  children  were  baptized. 
On  his  return  to  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  he  found  that  some  of  his 
people  from  that  place  had  been  to  Crosweeksung,  a  distance  of  SO 
miles,  and  there  felt  the  power  and  enjoyed  the  comforts  of  divine 
truth.  His  third  visit  to  Crosweeksung  was  like  the  second,  a  succes- 
sion of  spiritual  triumphs.  In  February,  1746,  a  school  was  com- 
menced for  teaching  the  Indians  to  read  and  write  the  English  language, 
under  a  teacher  whom  Mr.  Brainerd  had  procured.  About  30  children 
attended  by  dr.y,  and  15  or  20  adults  in  the  evening.  He  also  sought 
to  form  them  to  habits  of  industry.  He  persuaded  the  committee  that 
employed  him  to  advance  a  considerable  amount  of  money,  to  pay  the 
debts  they  had  contracted  by  their  improvidence  before  their  conversion, 
and  for  which  they  were  in  danger  of  losing  their  land.  He  then  in- 
duced them  to  form  a  settlement  at  Cranberry,  about  15  miles  from 
Crosweeksung,  where,  in  about  a  year,  they  had  80  acres  of  land  under 
tillage.  A  church  was  organized,  and  23  Indians  sat  down  to  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Others  would  have  been  admitted,  but  for  their  unavoidable 
absence.  It  appeared  probable,  that  his  Master  designed  to  make  him 
the  settled  pastor  of  a  church  of  converted  Indians,  and  he  was  prepar- 
ing his  mind  for  a  partial  confinement  to  one  congregation.  But  he 
must  make  another  journey  to  the  Susquehannah.  His  constitution  was 
already  broken  by  a  succession  of  hardships  and  privations,  and  this 
journey  proved  as  severe  a  trial  of  its  strength  as  any  of  the  preceding. 
Edwards  says  he  was  "  excessive  in  his  labors,"  not  paying  that  regard 
to  his  health  which  duty  required.  On  his  return  from  this  journey,  he 
administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to  his  Indian  flock,  which  now  amounted 
to  nearly  forty  persons.     After  the  service,  he  was  scarce  able  to  walk, 


1620-1810.]  DAVID    BRAINERD.       SAMSON   OCCUM.  17 

but  was  supported  by  his  friends,  and  laid  on  a  bed,  where  he  lay  in 
pain  till  night.  He  was  obliged  to  leave  his  flock  early  in  November. 
Travellino;  by  easy  stages  and  resting  at  intervals  with  friends,  he  ar- 
rived at  Northampton  about  the  last  of  May.  Here  he  was  hospitably 
received  by  the  great  Edwards,  then  pastor  of  that  church.  An  able 
physician  pronounced  his  disease  a  consumption,  and  incurable.  He 
lingered  till  the  9th  of  October,  1747,  when,  in  the  30th  year  of  his 
age,  his  ardent  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ  was  fully  gratified. 
His  journal  and  his  biography  by  Edwards  were  extensively  read,  and 
produced  a  deep  and  permanent  impression  on  the  Christian  world ;  and 
it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  they  did  much  to  form  the  character  of  Dr. 
Carey,  and  of  others  who  formed  the  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety in  England,  and  established  the  Serampore  mission. 

In  October,  1744,  several  ministers  in  Scotland,  considering  the  state 
of  the  church  and  of  the  world,  concluded  that  the  providence  of  God 
then  called  for  extraordinary  and  united  prayer  for  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  on  all  the  churches,  and  on  the  whole  habitable  earth, 
that  the  world  might  be  truly  converted  to  God.  They  therefore  pro- 
posed that  some  part  of  every  Saturday  evening  and  Sabbath  morning, 
and  of  the  first  Tuesday  of  every  quarter  of  the  year,  beginning  with 
November,  should  be  spent  in  secret  or  social  prayer  for  this  object. 
Great  numbers  in  Scotland,  many  in  England,  and  some  in  America 
fell  in  with  the  proposal.  In  August,  1746,  a  circular  was  prepared  in 
Scotland,  of  which  nearly  500  copies  were  sent  to  New  England  for 
distribution  in  the  colonies.  It  was  Biainerd's  dying  message  to  his 
Indian  congregation,  that  they  should  observe  this  concert  of  prayer 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  They  complied  with  his  advice ;  and 
the  Presbyteries  of  New  York  and  New  Brunswick,  and  others  in  that 
region,  soon  followed  their  example.  A  considerable  part  of  the  funds 
for  the  support  of  the  mission  in  New  Jersey  was  furnished  by  these 
Presbyteries. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  John,  under  whom  the  mission 
flourished,  and  the  congregation  increased  to  200.  He  died  about  the 
close  of  the  war  of  the  revolution,  and  was  succeeded  in  1783  by 
Daniel  Simmons,  an  Indian  who  had  been  ordained,  but  who  was  soon 
suspended  from  the  ministry  for  intemperance  and  other  irregularities. 
The  congregation  then  had  occasional  preaching^  from  the  neicjhborins: 
ministers;  but  it  gradually  declined  till  1802,  when  those  who  remained, 
85  in  number,  were  conducted  by  commissioneis  appointed  by  the  State, 
to  the  residence  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
with  which  they  became  amalgamated. 

Among  the  Mohegans  of  Connecticut,  who  were  converted  in  1741, 
was  Samson  Occura,  then  17  years  of  age.  He  was  educated  for  the 
ministry  among  his  countrymen,  in  a  private  school  at  Lebanon,  Ct, 
under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Eleazer  Wheelock.  This  school  gradually 
became  a  seminary  for  the  education  of  Indians,  and  of  missionaries  to 
the  Indians,  and  was  called  "  Moor's  Charity  School."    It  was  first 

3 


18  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

opened  as  a  missionary  seminary  in  1748,  five  years  after  Occum  entered 
it;  though  its  complete  establishment  seems  not  to  have  been  effected 
till  1754*  It  was  here,  and  not,  as  several  authors  seem  to  assert,  at 
Hanover,  N.  H.,  that  Brant,  the  Mohawk  chief,  received  his  education. 
Brant  was  sent  here,  with  several  others  of  his  tribe,  by  the  influence 
of  Sir  William  Johnson,  an  active  friend  and  patron  of  the  school.  In 
1662,  the  Rev.  Charles  Jeffrey  Smith,  who  was  laboring  at  his  owm  ex- 
pense as  a  missionary  among  the  Mohawks,  employed  Brant  as  an  in- 
terpreter. Brant  was  then  active  in  promoting  the  civilization  of  his 
people,  and  was  thought  to  be  truly  pious.  His  religious  feelings,  long 
deadened  by  politics  and  war,  are  said  to  have  revived  towards  the  close 
of  his  life.  In  1765,  the  school  reported  three  missionaries  and  eight 
schoolmasters  laboring  among  the  Indians,  aided  occasionally  by  two 
interpreters,  and  22  pupils  dependent  upon  it  for  support.  As  greater 
funds  were  needed  for  its  support  and  enlargement  than  could  be  other- 
wise obtained,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whitaker,  with  the  Rev.  Samson  Occum, 
who  had  been  on  a  mission  among  the  Oneidas,  visited  England  and 
Scotland  to  procure  them.  They  excited  no  ordinary  interest,  and  soon 
raised  funds  to  the  amount  of  more  than  j£  12,000,  nearly  all  of  which 
was  invested  in  British  funds,  the  income  to  be  appropriated  to  the  ob- 
jects of  the  school.  In  1770,  the  school  was  removed  to  Hanover,  N. 
H.  The  location  was  not  well  chosen  for  an  Indian  school ;  as  it  was 
in  the  centre  of  an  extensive  region  which  Indians  had  never  inhabited 
and  seldom  visited,  and  into  which  white  settlers,  allured  by  reports  of 
its  astonishing  fertility,  of  which  the  reports  of  our  own  day  from  the 
west  seem  to  be  but  the  echo,  were  pouring  with  a  rapidity  hitherto 
unexampled.  The  number  of  Indian  pupils  soon  began  to  diminish,  and 
was  much  reduced  during  the  war  of  the  revolution.  For  many  years 
past,  it  has  seldom  had  more  than  two  or  three  at  a  time,  generally 
Abernaquis,  from  Canada,  and  often  none.  Dartmouth  College,  though 
established  at  the  same  place,  under  the  same  president,  and  as  a  part 
of  the  same  enterprise,  is  a  distinct  institution,  with  a  charter  and  funds 
of  its  own. 

Occum,  after  his  return  from  England,  preached  to  his  countrymen 
in  the  region  of  New  London,  Ct.,  till  about  the  year  1778,  when  he 
removed  with  them  to  the  Brothertown  tract,  which  they  had  obtained 
of  the  Oneidas,  in  New  York.  From  this  place  they  finally  removed  to 
Michigan,  and  were  united  with  the  Stockbridge  tribe. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland  was  educated  at  Dr.  Wheelock's  school 
in  Lebanon,  Ct.,  and  at  Princeton  College.  In  1764,  he  commenced  a 
mission  araoung  the  Oneidas,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  He  suffered 
many  hardships  on  his  journey  of  250  miles,   much  of  which  was 

*  The  life  of  Wheelock  states  that  in  1763,  the  Boston  committee  of  the 
Society  in  Scotland  made  an  appropriation  in  aid  of  this  school,  and  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Massachusetts  authorized  it  to  receive  six  Indian  pupils  from  the 
Six  Nations.  A  few  pages  afterwards^  it  relates  the  same  facts,  as  having 
occurred  in  1761. 


1620-1810.]  KIUKLAND.  19 

through  the  wilderness  on  snow  shoes,  with  his  pack  of  proA'isions  on 
his  back ;  and  from  famine  after  his  arrival.  His  life,  too,  was  fre- 
quently in  danger  from  the  Indians.  Yet  he  persevered.  Their  oppo- 
sition was  gradually  overcome,  a  school  was  established,  and  rather  than 
part  with  him,  the  Indians  where  he  dwelt  agreed  to  exclude  ardent 
spirits  from  their  settlement.  Friends  of  Indian  missions  contributed 
for  the  supply  of  his  wants,  and  in  1773,  the  Society  in  Scotland  for 
propagating  Christian  Knowledge  agreed  to  pay  him  a  salary,  in  con- 
junction with  the  corporation  of  Harvard  College.  In  1775,  the  In- 
dians learned  that  he  had  received  documents  from  the  provincial  con- 
gress in  Massachusetts,  relating  to  the  difficulties  between  the  colonies 
and  Great  Britain.  They  insisted  on  knowing  their  contents,  and  he 
communicated  them.  These  documents  had  been  sent  to  him  for  that 
very  purpose;  and  the  result  was,  that  the  Oneidas  refused  to  take  any 
part  in  the  impending  war.  Sir  William  Johnson  soon  after,  ordered 
all  "  Dissenting"  missionaries  to  leave  the  Indian  country  in  New  York. 
During  the  war  which  followed,  he  could  only  visit  his  people  occasion- 
ally. After  the  war,  they  invited  several  bands  of  Christian  Indians  to 
settle  in  their  country,  and  besought  Mr.  Kiikland  to  return  and  reside 
among  them.  They  also  entreated  the  Scottish  Society's  committee  in 
Boston  to  send  him ;  and  in  1785  he  returned  and  settled  among  them. 
Soon  after  his  return,  the  attention  of  the  Indians  to  religion  was  re- 
markable, and  their  improvement  in  morals  was  striking ;  but  ardent 
spirits  and  other  causes  gradually  produced  a  sad  decline.  Mr.  Kirk- 
land  died  at  Paris,  Oneida  Co.  N.  Y.  in  1808,  aged  67.  He  had  been 
a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  with  short  interruptions,  for  40  years. 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  Mr.  Kirkland  was  supported  by 
the  corporation  of  Harvard  College,  the  Society  in  Scotland  having 
withdrawn  their  patronage.  Harvard  College  has  a  fund  of  $12,000, 
for  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  Indians.  And  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  from  the  beginning,  a  considerable  part  of  the  funds  ex- 
pended on  missions  in  America  by  societies  in  Great  Britain,  was  con- 
tributed in  this  country,  and  managed  by  the  committees  in  Boston  and 
New  York.  This  system  of  operation  seems  to  have  been  connected 
with  our  state  of  colonial  dependence.  In  1762,  a  "  Society  for  pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge  among  the  Indians  in  North  America" 
was  formed  at  Boston,  and  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts; but  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  induced  the  King  of  Eng- 
land to  disallow  the  act  of  incorporation,  and  the  business  had  still  to 
be  conducted  through  American  committees  of  British  Societies. 

In  1774,  two  New  England  divines,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Ezra  Styles 
and  Samuel  Hopkins,  proposed  to  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, to  establish  a  mission  in  Africa.  The  proposal  was  favorably 
received,  but  political  events  soon  rendered  its  execution  impracticable. 

The  American  revolution,  and  the  absorption  of  all  the  energies  of 
the  country  in  recovering  from  its  effects,  almost  suspended  these  evan- 
gelical efforts ;  but  a  few  vears  after  its  termination,  a  revival  of  mis- 


20  INTRODUCTION.  [1620-1810. 

sionary  enterprise  commenced,  both  in  America  and  in  Europe.  In 
1787,  the  Society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  and 
others  in  North  America  was  incorporated  in  Massachusetts.  It  grad- 
ually passed  into  the  hands  of  Unitarians,  and  now  expends  the  income 
of  its  funds  in  supporting  two  or  three  preachers  among  some  of  the 
Indians  in  New  England.  It  has,  or  had  some  years  since,  a  fund  of 
19000  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  American  Indians, 
in  1792,  the  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  formed  in  Eng- 
land ;  the  London  Missionary  Society  was  formed  in  1795 ;  the  Edin- 
burgh Missionary  Society  and  the  New  York  Missionary  Society  in  1796; 
the  Northern  Missionary  Society,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  in  1797;  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  in  England,  in  1800;  and  the  Western  Missionary 
Society,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  in  1802.  All  these  societies  were  formed 
with  reference  to  missions  among  the  heathen,  either  exclusively  or  in 
part.  In  1803,  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  made  its  first  appropriation  for  a  mission  among  the  heathen. 
The  British  Societies  just  mentioned,  engaged  extensively  in  the 
work  of  missions  to  the  East  Indies,  to  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific,  and 
to  Africa.  The  New  Y^ork,  Northern  and  Western  Missionary  Societies 
sent  missionaries  to  the  Indians  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  north  of 
the  Ohio  river.  These  three  societies  were  finally  merged  in  the  United 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  their  funds,  missions,  and  all  their  con- 
cerns were  transferred  to  the  American  Board,  in  1826,  as  will  be  re- 
lated in  its  place.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Badger,  in  the  service  of  the  latter, 
visited  New  Eno-land  in  1809,  and  procured  for  his  mission,  one  hundred 
dollars  from  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  and  eleven  hundred 
dollars  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity.  The  General  Assembly  appropriated 
$200,  to  aid  the  Rev.  Gideon  Blackburn  in  his  attempts  to  introduce 
the  o-ospel  and  civilization  among  the  Cherokees.  Mr.  Blackburn  also 
received  private  aid  from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  and  from  benevolent 
individuals  in  Philadelphia.  He  also  visited  New  England,  where  col- 
lections were  made  in  behalf  of  his  enterprise.  In  several  places  in 
the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  these  were  repeated  from  year  to 
year,  and  the  money  transmitted  through  the  hands  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Morse.  A  more  particular  account  of  his  labors  and  their  results  will 
appear  in  the  history  of  the  mission  of  the  American  Board  to  the 
Cherokees. 

American  missions  to  the  heathen,  hitherto,  had  all  been  among  the 
Indians  of  this  continent.  The  promotion  of  true  Christian  piety  had 
always  been  made  the  leading  object ;  and  as  subservient  to  this,  efforts 
to  introduce  learning,  agriculture  and  the  useful  arts  had  in  almost  all 
instances  accompanied  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  The  result  has 
shown  that  the  American  Indians,  compared  with  other  heathen,  have 
been  remarkable  for  both  readiness  and  ability  to  perceive  and  admit  the 
value  both  of  Christianity  and  of  civilization.     Among  no  other  heathen 


1800-1810.]  FORMATION   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  21 

in  modern  times  has  the  gospel  had  such  early  and  decided  success.  No 
other  savages  have  so  readily  thrown  off  their  barbarism  and  become 
civilized  men.  The  great  obstacle  to  their  preservation  as  civilized 
communities  is  also  manifest.  It  is — it  always  has  been — their  frequent 
avulsion  from  their  native  soil.  The  Stockbridge  tribe,  for  instance,  has 
been  torn  up  by  the  roots  and  transplanted  about  once  in  twenty  years, 
on  an  average,  since  Sergeant  begun  his  labors  among  them  in  1734. 
And  yet  they  are  a  civilized  and  Christian  community.  They  cling  to 
civilization  and  Christianity,  as  scarce  any  other  people  would  do  under 
an  equal  pressure  of  adverse  circumstances.  The  doctrine  that  Indians 
cannot  be  civilized,  is  the  mistake  of  men  who  are  ignorant  of  their 
history,  or  the  slander  of  men  who  covet  their  lands.  It  is  plain,  too, 
that  the  gospel,  introduced  by  missions  and  introducing  civilization, 
must  save  them  from  extinction,  or  they  will  not  be  saved.  Of  all 
the  tribes  -which  once  inhabited  the  older  parts  of  the  United  States, 
scarce  a  fragment  can  now  be  found,  but  such  as  Christian  missions 
have  preserved. 

It  is  certain,  too,  that  the  present  age  takes  too  much  honor  to  it- 
self. Missions  to  the  heathen  are  not  its  invention  ;  nor  are  the  men  of 
this  age  the  first,  even  in  modern  times,  who  have  felt  the  spirit  of  mis- 
sions, or  deliberately  contemplated  the  conversion  of  the  whole  world  to 
God,  as  a  work  in  which  they  were  to  bear  a  part.  From  1G46  to  1675, 
New  England  did  more  in  proportion  to  her  ability  for  the  conversion 
of  the  heathen,  than  she  has  done  from  1810  to  1839.  The  spirit  of 
missions  was  as  general  then  as  now  ;  contributors  were  as  liberal  in 
proportion  to  their  means,  and  missionaries  exposed  themselves  as  read- 
ily to  equal  hardships  and  dangers.  Nor  has  this  spirit  been  lost  since 
that  day  and  revived  by  us.  From  that  day  to  the  present,  there  has 
been  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  sacrifices  and  sufferings  and  dangers, 
encountered  for  the  salvation  of  the  heathen  ;  an  uninterrupted  course 
of  expenditure  of  wealth  and  life  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  God. 
The  shaking  of  the  nations  has  at  times  deranged  the  machinery  for  a 
season,  but  has  never  stopped  its  motion. 


CHAPTERII. 


setts. — Application  for  advice. — Formation  of  the  Board. — Its  meeting  lor 
organization. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  an  attentive  observer 
must  have  seen  that  the  current  of  missionary  enterprise  was  about  to 
make  for  itself  new  channels,  broader  and  deeper  than  those  in  which  it 


22  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1800-1810. 

was  then  flowing.  The  struggle  for  independence  was  ended  ;  the  pe- 
cuniary embarrassment  which  it  cost,  had  passed  away  ;  the  form  of 
government  had  been  settled,  and  years  had  given  confidence  in  its 
stability  5  all  the  temporal  concerns  of  the  nation  were  in  "  the  full  tide 
of  successful  experiment ;"  and  in  short,  the  secular  causes  which  had 
for  a  time  repressed  the  spirit  of  missions,  were  removed.  Religion, 
from  which  the  struggle  for  national  existence  and  the  formation  of  the 
national  government  had  partially  withdrawn  the  minds  of  men,  was 
beginning  to  recover  its  former  power;  and  the  local  societies  which 
were  springing  up  in  various  parts  of  the  land,  several  of  which  made 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen  a  distinct  object  of  their  existence,  showed 
that  the  religion  of  this  country  was  still  a  missionary  religion,  in  which 
the  love  of  Christ  was  a  constraining  power,  impelling  to  efforts  and  sacri- 
fices for  the  salvation  of  men.  Evidently,  the  spirit  which  was  spread- 
ing and  strengthening  in  the  community  would  soon  demand  and  create 
a  system  of  operations,  for  the  management  of  which  organizations  then 
existing  w^ould  be  found  inadequate. 

R.iijiou.  This  spirit  provided  for  its  own  nourishment  and  growth, 

Periucucais.  ^^^  sccuriug  a  more  general  diffusion  of  religious  intelligence. 
Among  the  periodicals  which  it  called  into  existence,  the  Massachusetts 
Missionary  Magazine  is  most  intimately  connected  with  the  formation  of 
the  American  Board.  It  was  commenced  in  June,  1803,  under  the 
direction  and  patronage  of  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society.  That 
Society,  though  it  sent  no  missionary  to  the  heathen,  felt  a  deep  interest 
in  that  work,  and  in  1804,  the  president  of  the  London  Missionary  Society 
was  elected  one  of  its  honorary  trustees.  By  this  and  other  kindred 
publications,  information  was  diffused  of  the  labors  of  European  Chris- 
tians for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  in  Asia,  Africa  and  the  Islands 
of  the  Pacific.  That  information  was  continually  increasing  in  interest, 
and  in  power  to  call  forth  the  missionary  spirit  of  those  to  whom  it  came. 
In  1805,  the  Panoplist  was  commenced.  In  1808,  these  two  publica- 
tions were  united.  In  1810,  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  who  was  then  in  the 
practice  of  law  in  New  Haven,  Ct.,  became  the  editor.  From  the  time 
of  their  union,  the  diffusion  of  intelligence  concerning  missions  to  the 
heathen,  both  on  the  eastern  and  western  continents,  was  made  a  promi- 
nent object  of  the  work. 

Mills,  Haiund  Evcry  great  and  effectual  movement  in  human  society 
Riijhurcis.  begins  in  secret  and  in  silence;  in  the  diffusion  through  the 
mass  of  those  who  are  to  be  the  actors,  of  those  elements  of  thought  and 
feeling,  under  the  influence  of  which  they  are  to  act.  As  the  movement 
draws  towards  its  full  development,  it  produces  the  leading  minds  which 
it  needs ;  the  men  who  first  understand,  and  cause  others  to  understand, 
what  the  movement  is  to  be,  and  under  whose  guidance  the  multitude 
labor  purposely  for  its  accomplishment.  So  it  was  now.  Samuel  J. 
Mills,  born  at  Torringford,  Ct.,  April  21,  1783,  heard  much,  from  his 
infancy,  of  missions  to  the  heathen.  His  mother,  especially,  delighted 
to  talk  of  Eliot,  and  of  Brainerd,  and  of  other  missionaries  to  the  hea- 


1800-1810.]         WILLIAMS    COLLEGE    SOCIETY   OF    INQUIRY.  23 

then  ;  and  once,  during  such  a  conversation,  remarked  concerning 
Samuel,  "  I  have  consecrated  this  child  to  the  service  of  God,  as  a  mis- 
sionary." The  words  made  a  lasting  impression  upon  his  mind.  The 
first  indication  of  vital  piety  which  his  father  ever  noticed  in  him,  was 
the  remark,  made  in  the  winter  of  1802,  that  "  he  could  not  conceive  of 
any  course  of  life  in  which  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  days,  that  would  prove 
so  pleasant,  as  to  go  and  communicate  the  gospel  of  salvation  to  the 
poor  heathen."  It  was  even  then  his  desire  to  be  a  missionary,  not  to 
the  American  Indians,  but  to  the  heathen  of  some  foreign  land ;  and 
Africa  early  engaged  his  attention.  He  consulted  his  parents.  His 
mother  said,  "  I  cannot  bear  to  part  with  you,  my  son  !"  He  repeated 
what  he  had  heard  her  say  of  him  when  a  child.  She  wept,  and  never 
again  objected.  With  their  consent,  he  began  to  acquire  the  ed- 
ucation necessary  for  his  intended  work.  Having  made  the  requi- 
site preparation  and  put  his  secular  concerns  into  other  hands,  he 
became  a  member  of  Williams  College,  Mass.,  in  the  spring  of  1806. 
Here  the  efforts  he  made  daring  the  hours  of  relaxation  to  promote 
piety  among  his  fellow  students,  were  eminently  useful;  but  his  great 
and  ultimate  object  was  ever  prominent  in  his  own  mind,  the  leading 
topic  of  his  private  meditations  and  prayers.  At  length,  in  the  summer 
or  autumn  of  1807,  he  invited  Gordon  Hall  and  James  Richards  to  a 
walk.  He  led  them  to  an  unfrequented  place  in  a  distant  meadow, 
■where,  by  the  side  of  a  stack  of  hay,  they  spent  the  day  in  fasting  and 
prayer,  and  in  conversing  on  the  duty  of  missions  to  the  heathen.  Mills 
was  surprised  and  gratified  to  find  that  the  subject  was  not  new  to  his 
brethren;  that  their  hearts  were  already  fixed  on  engaging  in  such  a 
work.  The  providence  of  God  had  not  conferred  on  one  man  the  ex- 
clusive honor  of  originating  the  enterprise  and  imparting  its  spirit  to 
all  others  that  had  it,  but  had  inspired  a  number  of  individuals,  each  in- 
dependently of  the  others,  with  the  same  thoughts  and  purposes.  Hav- 
ing learned  each  others'  views,  these  brethren,  and  a  few  others  who 
were  found  to  be  of  the  same  mind,  often  met  where  this  first  conversa- 
tion had  been  held,  to  converse  and  pray  concerning  the  subject  of  their 
hopes  and  future  labors.  In  the  spring  of  1808,  in  the  northwest 
lower  room  of  the  east  college,  a  society  was  formed,  for  the  purpose 
of  making  inquiries  and  forming  plans  for  future  missions.  Its  exist- 
ence was  kept  secret  from  all  but  its  members ;  and  to  this  day,  its 
proceedings,  and  even  the  names  of  its  members,  are  but  partially 
known. 

The  spirit  which  was  U  sustain  a  system  of  missions  to  the  heathen 
in  foreign  lands  was  gaining  strength  in  the  churches ;  but,  besides  the 
members  of  this  society,  there  were  few,  if  any,  in  whose  minds  it  had 
ripened  into  a  distinct  idea  of  something  soon  to  be  actually  attempted 
and  accomplished.  The  first  labor  of  this  society,  therefore,  was,  to 
prepare  the  minds  of  men  for  fti^  enterprise.  For  this  purpose,  they 
republished  a  missionary  sermon  wL'ch  Dr.  Griffin  had  delivered  before 


24  HISTORY    OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1800-1810. 

the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  another,  by  Dr. 
Livingston,  before  the  New  York  Missionary  Society.  These  they  cir- 
culated as  extensively  as  possible.  They  read  them  in  families,  at  so- 
cial visits,  and  in  meetings  for  religious  conference.  They  made  them 
the  means  of  introducing  the  subject  of  missions  to  persons  with  whom 
they  wished  to  converse.  By  such  means,  they  brought  many  minds 
rapidly  towards  the  point  at  which  they  wished  to  arrive.  They  made 
out  a  written  list  of  clergymen,  on  whose  attention  they  resolved  to  urge 
the  subject.  Among  these  were  Drs.  Worcester,  Griffin,  Morse  and 
Dana.  These  ministers  they  visited  repeatedly,  spending  their  college 
vacations  with  them,  and  laboring  as  their  helpers  among  their  people; 
using  the  opportunities  thus  procured,  for  developing  their  plans.  In 
pursuing  this  course,  they  showed  at  once  the  soundest  practical  wisdom, 
the  most  rational  confidence  in  the  goodness  of  their  cause,  and  the  mod- 
esty which  is  becoming  in  young  men.  Had  they  at  first  carried  their 
yet  crude  and  ill-digested  plans,  in  a  style  of  fervid  declamation,  before 
the  more  ignorant  and  excitable  part  of  the  churches,  they  might  have 
raised  up  a  violent  and  angry  party  in  favor  of  rash  and  impracticable 
schemes ;  and  thus  they  might  have  thrown  off  the  more  steady  and  per- 
manently efficient  part  of  the  Christian  community  from  participating 
in  their  enterprise.  Instead  of  this,  they  went  to  men  whose  characters 
were  established  as  safe  advisers;  men  capable  of  appreciating  their 
motives  and  their  arguments,  of  detecting  their  errors  and  of  supplying 
their  defects ;  men  in  whom  experience  had  taught  the  Christian  public 
to  have  confidence,  and  whose  sanction  would  secure  to  their  cause  a 
favorable  hearing.  Of  these,  the  prudent,  the  cautious,  the  deliberate 
Dr.  Worcester,  who,  because  he  was  such  a  man,  would  no  more  reject 
a  plan  than  he  would  adopt  one  without  fully  knowing  its  value,  was 
the  first  to  become  zealously  enlisted  in  the  enterprise. 

Attempts  were  also  made  to  excite  a  missionary  spirit  among  the 
students  in  other  colleges.  For  this  purpose,  one  of  their  number  trans- 
ferred his  relation  from  Williams  to  Middlebury  College,  and  Mills  visit- 
ed New  Haven.  Intercourse  was  also  opened  with  Dartmouth  and 
Union  Colleges ;  but  this  branch  of  their  labors  was  attended  with  little 
visible  success.  After  graduating,  in  September,  1809,  Mills  spent 
some  time  at  Yale  College  as  a  resident  graduate,  in  the  study  of  theolo- 
gy. The  place  was  chosen  with  the  hope  of  finding  or  imparting  a 
spirit  of  missions.  During  this  visit  he  formed  that  acquaintance  with 
Obookiah,  the  Hawaian  youth,  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands  mission. 

In  the  spring  of  1810,  Mills  became  a  member  of  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary, or  as  it  was  then  somet.mes  called,  .he  Divinity  College,  at  Ando- 
ver.  Several  of  his  former  associates  wenj  already  there ;  and  he  and  they 
industriously  used  every  suitable  opport  unity  to  impart  their  knowledge 
and  views  of  missions  to  their  fellow  students.  As  the  result  of  these 
labors,  Messrs.  Hall,  Judson,  Mills-^  Newell  and  Nott  agreed  to  unite 


1800-1810,]  MEETING    AT    BRAPFORD.  25 

their  efforts  to  establish  a  mission  among  the  heathen  in  some  foreign 
land.*  The  Faculty  of  the  Theological  Seminary  were  also  consulted, 
and  after  serious  deliberation,  approved  and  encouraged  the  design. 

_  At  last,  on  the  25th  of  June,  18 10,  a  meeting  for  consul-  j.or,„auonorth. 
tation  and  prayer  on  this  subject  was  held  at  Andover.  The  ''""''■ 
time  for  some  public  action,  it  was  thought,  had  come.  It  was  deter- 
mined to  bring  the  subject  before  the  General  Association  of  Massachu- 
setts, then  about  to  meet.  The  next  day,  Drs.  Worcester  and  Spring, 
who  had  been  present  at  the  meeting,  rode  together  in  a  chaise  to  Brad- 
ford. In  their  conversation  by  the  way,  the  first  idea  of  the  "  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions"  was  suggested,  and  the 
form,  the  number  of  members,  and  the  name,  were  proposed.  Dr.  Wor- 
cester, who  gives  this  information  in  a  letter  written  a  short  time  before 
his  death,  does  not  ascribe  the  honor  of  first  suggesting  this  idea  to  his 
companion,  as  he  w^ould  have  done,  had  truth  permitted;  nor  did  his 
modesty  allow  him  to  claim  that  honor  for  himself  The  truth  proba- 
bly is,  that  the  suggestion  was  first  made  by  Dr.  Worcester,  but  grew 
out  of  their  mutual  conversation,  and  was  perfected  by  their  united 
counsels. 

The  General  Association  met  at  Bradford,!  on  Wednesday,  June  27th. 
On  Thursday  afternoon,  onmolion  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  Acloniram  Jud- 
son,  Jr.,  Samuel  Nott,  Jr.,  Samuel  J.  Mills  and  Samuel  Newell  were  in- 


*  It  must  not  be  inferred  that  all  these  brethren  received  their  first  impulse 
towards  the  missionary  work  from  Mr.  Mills.  Mr.  Hall,  the  reader  has  already 
been  inlbrmed,  was  contemplating  a  foreign  mission  when  Mills  first  spoke  to 
him  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Richards  is  said  to  have  consecrated  himseli'  to  the 
work  earlier  than  Hall.  It  is  stated  in  the  History  of  the  Rurman  mission, 
that  Mr.  Judson's  thoughts  were  first  led  to  the  subject  by  the  perusal  of  Dr. 
Buchanan's  "  Star  in  the  East,"  during  the  last  year  of  his  residence  at  the 
Theological  Seminary;  that  he  conversed  with  several  persons  who  discour- 
aged him  ;  and  that  he  wrote  to  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary  So- 
ciety for  information,  and  received  an  answer,  inviting  him  to  visit  England, 
before  he  became  acquainted  with  the  views  ol'the  other  brethren.  This  state- 
ment has  been  copied  into  the  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Judson,  a  work  with  the  ex- 
ecution of  which,  "  in  all  its  parts,"  Mr.  Judson  declares  himself  "extremely 
gratified."  The  statement,  therefore,  has  his  sanction.  The  "last  year  of  his 
residence"  at  the  Seminary  terminated  September  25th,  1810;  so  that  his  en- 
listment in  the  cause  of  missions  cannot  be  dated  earlier  than  the  autumn  of 
1809,  or  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  formalion  of  the  Society  at  Williams 
College.  The  claim,  therefore,  which  some  ol"his  friends  have  advanced,  that 
he  was  the  first  mover  in  this  enterpise,  cannot  be  sustained;  though,  belbre 
he  knew  what  others  had  done  or  thought,  he  consecrated  himself  to  the  work, 
and  commenced  a  series  of  efforts,  Avhich  would  probably  have  resulted  in  its 
accomplishment,  even  if  Mills  and  his  ascociates  had  never  engaged  in  it. 

t  Thephraseology  of  the  minutes  of  the  Association  concerning  an  adjourn- 
ment for  public  worship  at  Haverliill,  has  suggested  a  doubt  as  to  the  place 
where  the  Board  was  actually  instituted.  One  article  in  the  Missionary 
Herald  states  that  it  was  at  Haverhill.  The  author  has  ascertained,  from 
living  testimony,  that  the  usual  statement  is  correct — the  Board  was  formed 
at  Bradford. 

4 


26  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1800-1810. 

troduced,  and  presented  the  following  paper,  to  which  their  names  were 
signed. 

"  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Divinity  College,  respectfully  request 
the  attention  of  their  Rev.  Fathers,  convened  in  the  General  Association  at 
Bradford,  to  the  following  statement  and  inquiries. 

'•  They  beg  leave  to  state,  that  their  minds  have  been  long  impressed  with 
the  duty  and  importance  of  personally  attempting  a  mission  to  the  heathen  ; 
that  the  impressions  on  their  minds  have  induced  a  serious,  and  they  trust,  a 
prayerful  consideration  of  the  subject  in  its  various  attitudes,  particularly  in  rela- 
tion to  the  probable  success,  and  the  difficulties  attending  such  an  attempt; 
and  that,  after  examining  all  the  information  which  they  can  obtain,  they  con- 
sider themselves  as  devoted  to  this  work  for  life,  whenever  God,  in  his  provi- 
dence, shall  open  the  way. 

"  They  now  offer  the  following  inquiries,  on  which  they  solicit  the  opinion 
and  advice  of  this  Association.  Whether,  with  their  present  views  and  feelings, 
they  ought  to  renounce  the  object  of  missions,  as  either  visionary  or  impracti- 
cable ;  if  not,  whether  they  ought  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  eastern  or 
western  world  ;  whether  they  may  expect  patronage  and  support  from  a  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  this  country,  or  must  commit  themselves  to  the  direction  of 
a  European  society ;  and  what  preparatory  measures  they  ought  to  take,  pre- 
vious to  actual  engagement. 

''  The  undersigned,  feeling  their  youth  and  inexperience,  look  up  to  their 
fathers  in  the  church,  and  respectfully  solicit  their  advice,  direction  and 
prayers." 

This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Judson.  It  at  first  contained,  be- 
sides the  present  applicants,  the  names  of  Mr.  Richards  and  Mr.  Rice ; 
but  on  consideration,  they  were  withdrawn,  lest  the  Association  should 
be  alarmed  at  the  probable  expense  of  supporting  six  missionaries  in  a 
foreign  land,  and  shrink  back  in  discouragement  from  the  undertaking. 
— After  hearing  from  the  applicants  a  more  particular  account  of  their 
views,  the  association  referred  the  subject  to  a  committee,  consisting  of 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Spring,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester,  and  Rev.  Enoch 
Hale.  On  the  next  day,  Friday,  June  29,  this  Committee  made  the 
following  report,  which  was  unanimously  adopted. 

"  The  object  of  missions  to  the  heathen  cannot  but  be  regarded,  by  the 
friends  of  the  Redeemer,  as  vastly  interesting  and  important.  It  deserves  the 
most  serious  attention  of  all  who  wish  well  to  the  best  interests  of  mankind,  and 
especially  of  those  who  devote  themselves  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  kingdom 
of  his  Son,  under  the  impression  of  the  special  direction,  '  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.'  The  state  of  their  minds,  mod- 
estly expressed  by  the  theological  students  who  have  presented  themselves 
before  this  body,  and  the  testimonies  received  respecting  them,  are  such  as 
deeply  to  impress  the  conviction,  that  they  ought  not  to  renounce  the  object 
of  missions,  but  sacredly  to  cherish  their  present  views  in  relation  to  that  ob- 
ject :  and  it  is  submitted  whether  the  peculiar  and  abiding  impressions  by  which 
they  are  influenced,  ought  not  to  be  gratefully  recognized,  as  a  divine  intima- 
tion of  something  good  and  great  in  relation  to  the  propagation  of  the  gospel, 
and  calling  for  correspondent  attention  and  exertions. 

"Therefore,  Voted,  That  there  be  instituted  by  this  General  Association,  a 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  ways 
and  means,  and  adopting  and  prosecuting  measures,  for  promoting  the  spread 
of  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands. 


1800-1810.]  FIRST   MEETING   OF   THE   BOARD.  27 

"  Voted,  That  the  said  Board  of  Commissioners  consist  of  nine  members, 
all  of  them  in  the  first  instance,  chosen  by  this  Association ;  and  afterwards  an- 
nually, five  of  them  by  this  body,  and  four  of  them  by  the  General  Association 
of  Connecticut. — Provided,  however,  that,  if  the  General  Association  of  Con- 
necticut do  not  choose  to  unite  in  this  object,  the  annual  election  of  all  the  Com- 
missioners shall  be  by  this  General  Association. 

"  It  is  understood,  that  the  Board  of  Commissioners,  here  contemplated,  will 
adopt  their  own  form  of  organization,  and  their  own  rules  and  regulations. 

"  Voted,  That  fervently  commending  them  to  the  grace  of  God  v'e  advise 
the  young  gentlemen  whose  request  is  before  us,  in  the  way  of  earnest  prayer 
and  diligent  attention  to  suitable  studies  and  means  of  information,  and  put- 
ting themselves  under  the  patronage  and  direction  of  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions,  humbly  to  wait  the  openings  and  guidance  of 
Providence  in  respect  to  their  great  and  excellent  design." 

The  Association  then  elected  His  Excellency  John  Treadwell,  Esq., 
Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D,  D.,  Gen.  Jedediah  Huntington  and  Rev.  Calvin 
Chapin,  of  Connecticut,  and  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Samuel 
Spring,  D.  D.,  William  Bartlett,  Esq.,  Rev.  Samuel  Worcester  and  Dea. 
Samuel  H.  Walley,  of  Massachusetts,  as  a  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  The  Rev  Dr.  Spring,  Rev.  Mr.  Worcester  and  Dea. 
Walley  were  appointed  to  consult  with  the  other  members  of  the  Board, 
and  make  arrangements  for  its  first  meeting. 

The  Board  met,  for  the  first  time,  at  Farmington,  Ct.,  Sep-  Fi„,n,„,j„g 
tember  5,  1810:  present,  His  Excellency  John  Treadwell,  "f  "-e  B.ord. 
Rev.  Drs.  Lyman  and  Spring,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  Worcester  and  Chapin. 
Dr.  Lyman  opened  the  meeting  with  prayer.  The  record  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  in  which  the  Board 
had  its  origin,  were  read  and  entered  upon  the  minutes. 

A  Constitution  for  the  Board  was  then  adopted.  Its  first  article  as- 
sumed the  name  already  given  by  the  General  Association.  The  second 
declared  that  the  object  of  this  Board  was,  "  to  devise,  adopt  and  prose- 
cute ways  and  means  for  propagating  the  gospel  among  those  who  are 
destitute  of  the  knowledge  of  Christianity."  Succeeding  articles  pre- 
scribed the  duties  of  the  officers.  The  tenth  provided  that  the  expenses 
•  of  the  commissioners  and  officers,  incurred  in  transacting  the  business  of 
the  Board,  should  be  paid,  but  no  member  or  officer  should  receive  any 
compensation  for  his  personal  services.  The  eleventh  provided,  that 
"  the  appointment  of  missionaries,  their  destination,  appropriations  for 
their  support,  and  their  recall  from  service,  when  necessary,  should  be 
under  the  exclusive  direction  of  the  Board."  The  twelfth  required  that  a 
report  of  the  transactions  of  the  Board  should  be  annually  made,  in  writ- 
ing, to  the  respective  bodies  by  which  the  commissioners  are  appointed. 

The  Board  then  appointed  His  Excellency  John  Treadwell,  Presi- 
dent ;  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  Vice  President ;  William  Bartlett,  Esq.,  Rev. 
Dr.  Spring,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Worcester,  Prudential  Committee ;  Rev.  Cal- 
vin Chapin,  Recording  Secretary ;  Rev.  Mr.  Worcester,  Corresponding 
Secretary ;  Dea.  S.  H.  Walley,  Treasurer,  and  Mr.  Joshua  Goodale, 
Auditor,  for  the  year  ensuing. 


28  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1800-1810. 

The  Prudential  Committee  were  directed  to  prepare  a  report,  to  be 
submitted  to  the  General  Associations  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut ; 
and  with  the  Corresponding  Secretary,  to  obtain  information  concerning 
unevangelized  nations,  and  report  to  the  Board  at  its  next  meeting.  It 
was  also  "  Voted,  That  the  Board  highly  approve  the  readiness  of  the 
young  gentlemen  at  Andover,  to  enter  upon  a  foreign  mission ;  and  that 
it  is  advisable  for  them  to  pursue  their  studies,  till  further  information 
relative  to  the  missionary  field  be  obtained,  and  the  finances  of  the  institu- 
tion will  justify  the  appointment." 

The  Board  closed  the  labors  of  this  session,  by  preparing  an  address 
to  "the  Christian  Public,"  which  shows  that  they  well  apprehended  the 
greatness  of  their  undertaking,  its  important  bearings,  and  the  motives 
which  alone  could  secure  them  an  efficient  support.     They  say  : 

"  The  Lord  is  shaking  the  nations ;  his  friends  in  different  parts  of 
Christendom  are  roused  from  their  slumbers  ;  and  unprecedented  exer- 
tions are  making  for  the  spread  of  divine  knowledge,  and  the  conver- 
sion of  the  nations.  In  our  own  country,  the  missionary  spirit  is 
excited,  and  much  has  already  been  done  for  imparting  the  gospel  to 
the  destitute  in  our  new  and  frontier  settlements.  But  for  the  millions 
on  our  own  continent  and  in  other  parts  of  the  world  to  whom  the 
gospel  has  never  been  preached,  we  have  yet  those  exertions  to  make, 
w^hich  comport  with  the  Savior's  emphatical  directions,  and  our  distin- 
guished advantages  for  promoting  the  great  object  for  which  he  came 
down  from  heaven  and  labored  and  suffered.  A  new  scene,  with  us, 
is  now  opening.  It  is  ascertained  that  several  young  men  of  good  rep- 
utation for  piety  and  talents,  under  sacred  and  deep  impressions,  hold 
themselves  devoted  for  life  to  the  service  of  God  in  the  gospel  of  his 
Son  among  the  destitute,  and  are  ready  to  go  into  any  part  of  the  un- 
evangelized world,  where  Providence  shall  open  the  door  for  their 
missionary  labors.  Is  not  this  a  divine  intimation  of  something  great 
and  good  ?  And  does  it  not  call,  with  impressive  emphasis,  for  gen- 
eral attention  and  exertion  1  In  the  present  state  of  the  world,  Chris- 
tian missions  cannot  be  executed  without  pecuniary  support.  Shall 
this  support  be  wanting  ?  When  millions  are  perishing  for  lack  of 
knowledge,  and  young  disciples  of  the  Lord  are  waiting,  with  ardent 
desire,  to  carry  the  gospel  of  salvation  to  them  ;  shall  those  millions 
be  left  to  perish,  and  that  ardent  desire  be  disappointed  ?  Is  there, 
then,  in  those  who  are  favored  with  the  gospel,  the  same  mind  that  was 
in  Christ,  when  he  freely  gave  his  own  blood  for  the  redemption  of 
men  ?  Should  not  this  reflection  come  home  to  the  hearts  of  the  rich, 
and  of  all  who,  by  the  bounty  of  the  Savior,  have  it  in  their  power  to 
contribute  even  their  mites,  for  the  salvation  of  those  for  whom  he 
died? 


1811.]  MR.    JUDSON    SENT   TO   ENGLAND.  29 


CHAPTER    III. 

1811. — Mr.  Judsori  sent  to  England. — Negotiations  with  the  London  Mi.?- 
sionary  Society. — Appointment  of"  Members  by  the  General  Association  of 
Connecticut. — Annual  Meeting  at  Worcester. — Appointment  of  Six  Mis- 
sionaries.— Intended  Mission  to  the  Indians  in  Canada. 

Notwithstanding  the  favor  with  which  the  object  of  the  Board  was 
regarded  by  some  hberal  individuals,  the  Prudential  Committee  believ- 
ed that  a  considerable  time  must  elapse  before  they  should  receive  funds 
sufficient  to  sustain  a  mission,  "  upon  a  promising  scale,"  in  any  part 
of  the  heathen  world.  Meanwhile,  four  missionaries  were  ready,  and 
waiting  to  be  sent  forth  ;  and  the  heathen  were  perishing  for  want  of 
their  labors.  It  was  thought  best,  therefore,  to  send  Mr.  Judson  to 
England,  to  confer  with  the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Socie- 
ty. He  was  directed  to  ascertain  whether  any  arrangements  could  be 
made  for  prosecuting  the  work  of  missions  in  concert  with  that  Society; 
whether,  if  desirable,  the  American  missionaries  could  receive  support 
from  that  Society  for  a  time,  without  committing  themselves  wholly 
and  finally  to  its  direction  ;  whether,  in  any  case,  they  could  be  sup- 
ported by  the  joint  funds  of  the  two  bodies  ;  and,  if  so,  under  whose 
direction  the  mission  must  be  placed. 

Mr.  Judson  sailed  for  England  in  the  ship  Packet,  of  Negn,■vMo„B^vhh 
Boston,  about  the  first  of  January.  The  ship  was  captur-arySo'"iVty.'  '"'"" 
ed  by  a  French  privateer,  and  carried  into  Bayonne,  where  he  was  cast 
into  prison.  He  was  soon  released  from  close  confinement,  but  could 
not  obtain  leave  to  proceed  to  England,  till  just  before  the  London  an- 
niversaries in  May.  He  was  courteously  received  by  the  Directors  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society  ;  and,  after  repeated  conferences  with 
them,  returned  to  the  United  States  in  August.  The  Directors  declined 
the  proposal  of  a  joint  control  of  the  mission,  rightly  judging  that  two 
governing  powers,  on  opposite  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  could  not  act  with 
the  necessary  promptness  of  decision  and  unity  of  design.  A  letter 
from  their  Secretary,  the  Rev.  George  Burder,  expresses  the  hope,  that 
the  American  churches,  when  they  know  that  four  of  their  own  breth- 
ren have  engaged  in  the  service,  will  supply  the  Board  with  funds  so  lib- 
erally, "  that  not  only  four,  but  forty,  may  go  forth"  as  missionaries  to 
the  heathen.  The  Directors,  however,  agreed,  should  it  be  necessary,  to 
receive  the  American  brethren  as  their  missionaries,  and  sustain  them 
"  until  they  are  able,  by  some  means  not  incompatible  with  their  mission- 
ary engagements,  to  procure  their  own  su})port ;  which,"  they  say, 
"  we  consider  it  to  be  the  bounden  duty  of  every  missionary  to  attempt 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  without  which  missions  can  never  be  very 


30  HISTORY   OF   THE  AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1811. 

•widely  extended."  This  remark  shows  that  the  idea  of  self-supporting 
missions  is  not  new.  It  naturally  suggests  itself  to  men  in  their  first 
stages  of  missionary  zeal,  while  their  information  is  too  imperfect  to 
enable  them  to  judge  correctly  of  its  practicability ;  but  a  more  enlarg- 
ed experience  very  generally  corrects  the  error. 

Re  election  of  According  to  the  original  resolution  by  which  the  Board 

was  instituted,  five  members  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  and  four  by  that  of  Connecticut. 
This  latter  body,  in  June  of  this  year,  approved  the  measures  already 
adopted,  and  appointed  the  same  gentlemen  from  that  State  who  had 
already  served  as  members.  The  General  Association  of  Massachu- 
setts, at  their  session  at  Salem,  in  June,  1811,  unanimously  appointed 
the  same  gentlemen  who  were  elected  last  year,  and  added  the  Rev. 
Jedediah  Morse,  D.  D.  This  was  the  last  election  of  the  kind;  as,  be- 
fore the  next  meeting  of  the  Association,  the  Board  was  incorporated, 
with  power  to  elect  its  own  members. 

Annual  Meeting.  Xhc  BoBrd  mct  thls  year  at  Worcester,  on  the  18th  of 

September ;  present,  Messrs.  Treadwell,  Spring,  Huntington,  Lyman, 
Morse,  Worcester  and  Chapin.  The  officers  of  the  last  year  were 
re-elected,  except  that  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.  was  chosen  Treasurer, 
instead  of  Dea.  S.  H.  Walley. 

In  their  annual  report,  the  Prudential  Committee  gave  an  account 
of  the  mission  of  Mr.  Judson  to  England,  and  its  results  ;  and  in  view 
of  the  whole  subject,  they  recommended  that  the  Board  should  retain 
the  missionaries  under  its  own  direction,  relying,  under  Providence,  on 
the  liberality  of  the  Christian  public  for  support.  Divine  Providence, 
by  raising  up  American  missionaries,  seemed  to  call  on  American  Chris- 
tians to  sustain  them.  There  had  already  been  indications  of  a  liber- 
ality which  encouraged  the  hope  that  "  a  foreign  mission  upon  a  prom- 
ising scale"  would  be  sustained.  Mrs.  Mary  Norris,  relict  of  the  Hon. 
John  Norris,  who  died  at  Salem,  March  21,  had  bequeathed  the  sum 
of  $30,000  to  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  and  the  same 
amount  to  trustees,  for  the  benefit  of  Foreign  Missions  to  the  heathen. 
Other  donations,  amounting  to  about  $1,400,  had  been  received.  They 
hoped,  therefore,  that  by  exertions  "  made  upon  an  extensive  scale,  and 
with  zeal  and  perseverance,"  the  requisite  funds  might  be  obtained. 
The  London  Missionary  Society  had  for  several  years  expended  about 
j£7,000  annually,  and  this  year  would  probably  expend  .£10,000  ;  and 
the  Committee  ask,  "  Is  not  the  American  public  as  well  able  to  supply 
j£600  annually,  as  the  British  public  is  to  supply  j6  10,000  ?"  They 
believed,  too,  that  though  the  most  favorable  prospect  for  successful 
missionary  labors  was  in  the  East,  yet  the  Board  ought  not  to  lose  sight 
of  the  heathen  tribes  on  this  continent.  And,  finally,  they  thought  that 
if  the  missionaries  should  be  retained  under  the  direction  of  the  Board, 
greater  interest  would  be  excited  among  American  Christians,  and 
more  liberal  efforts  made  for  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel  throughout  the 
world. 


1811.]  SIX  MISSIONARIES   APPOINTED.  31 

The  Committee  suggested,  that  the  most  favorable  station  for  an 
American  mission  in  the  East,  would  probably  be  in  some  part  of  the 
Buiman  Empire.  Besides  the  amount  of  population  and  the  character 
and  manners  of  the  people,  they  mention,  as  a  reason  that  "  cfeserves 
particular  consideration,"  that  the  Burmese  "  are  not  within  the  limits 
of  the  British  Empire,  and  therefore  not  so  much  within  the  proper 
province  of  the  British  Missionary  Societies."  So  early  did  they  under- 
stand and  adopt,  as  a  rule  of  conduct  for  themselves,  the  important 
principle,  that  missionary  societies  ought  to  avoid  interference  with 
each  other's  fields  of  labor. 

At  this  meeting,  the  Board  voted  to  "  retain  under  their  care,  the 
young  gentlemen  who  last  year  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  God 
for  life,  as  missionaries  in  foreign  parts;"  that  they  do  not  advise 
Messrs.  Judson  and  Nott  to  place  themselves,  at  present,  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  London  Missionary  Society ;  that  Messrs.  Judson,  Nott, 
Newell,  and  Hall  be  appointed  missionaries,  to  labor,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Board  in  Asia,  either  in  the  Burman  Empire,  in  Surat,  or  in 
Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  (Penang,)  or  elsewhere,  as,  in  view  of  the 
Committee,  Providence  shall  open  the  most  favorable  door ;  that  the 
salary  of  a  married  missionary  be  fixed  at  $666,66,  and  of  one  unmar- 
ried at  $444,45,  and  that  the  outfit  of  each  be  equal  to  one  year's 
salary  ;  and  that  Messrs.  James  Richards  and  Edward  Warren  be  taken 
under  the  direction  and  patronage  of  the  Board,  according  to  their  re- 
quest, on  condition  that  they  complete  their  course  of  studies  at  the 
Theological  Seminary,  agreeably  to  the  Statutes,  and  attend  a  course  of 
medical  lectures  at  Dartmouth  College. 

It  was  also  voted,  "  that  this  Board  will  pay  particular  attention  to 
the  Caghnewaga  tribe  of  Indians  in  Canada,  and  establish,  as  soon  as 
practicable,  a  mission  among  them ;"  and  to  forward  that  design,  they 
appropriated  $100,  to  aid  Eleazer  Wilhams,  a  native  of  that  tribe,  in 
his  education  for  the  ministry.  This  plan  was  disconcerted  by  the  war 
with  Great  Britain,  and  the  mission  was  never  commenced. 

The  donations  to  the  Board  which  reached  the  Treasurer  during 
the  remainder  of  this  year,  as  acknowledged  in  the  Panoplist,  amounted 
to  $79,95. 


32  HISTORY    OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1812. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

1812.— The  First  Missionaries  sent  out— Polity  of  Missions  adopted.— Act  of 
Incorporation.— Annual  Meeting  ai  Hartford.— Arrival  of  the  Missionaries 
at  Calcutta.— Orders  for  their  Departure.— Voyage  of  Mr.  Newell  to  the 
Isle  of  France.— Death  of  Mrs.  Newell.— Mr.  Judson  and  Mr.  Rice  become 
Baptists.— Departure  of  Hall  and  Nott  for  Bombay.— Appointment  of  Agen- 
cies in  London  and  Calcutta.— Aid  to  the  Serampore  Mission. 

The  beginning  of  this  year  was  distinguished  by  the  embarkation  of 
the  first  missionaries  from  the  Western  to' the  Eastern  continent. 

Late  in  the  month  of  January,  Messrs.  Newell  and  Hall,  who  had 
been  pursuing  medical  studies  at  Philadelphia,  returned  in  haste  with 
the  intelligence  that  the  ship  Harmony  was  to  sail  from  that  port  for 
Calcutta  in  about  two  weeks,  and  would  receive  the  missionaries  as  pas- 
sengers. They  returned,  by  the  advice  of  Robert  Ralston,  Esq.,  who 
was  even  then  distinguished  as  a  friend  of  missions,  and  who  offered  his 
counsel  and  aid  in  the  labors  of  embarkation.  What  should  be  done? 
Opportunities  were  infrequent,  and  the  Committee  knew  not  when 
another  would  occur.  All  things  were  ready  except  funds ;  but  of  these, 
the  Committee  had  not  more  than  $1,200  at  their  disposal.  The  occa- 
sion would  doubtless  excite  interest,  and  call  forth  liberal  donations. 
Christians  who  had  merely  neglected  to  contribute,  would  see  that  the  time 
had  come,  and  would  act  promptly.  A  considerable  increase  of  means 
might,  therefore,  be  expected.  But  besides  the  expense  of  the  passage  of 
the  missionaries  to  India,  their  outfits  and  their  salaries  for  one  year,  which 
had  been  arranged  on  a  very  economical  scale,  would  amount  to  nearly 
$5,000.  "  When,  after  serious  and  anxious  deliberation,  the  minds  of 
the  Prudential  Committee  were  first  expressed  on  the  question  of  send- 
ing the  missionaries  out,  only  one  member,"  says  Dr.  Worcester,— and 
he  does  not  name  that  member, — "  was  found  decidedly  in  the  affirma- 
tive." The  question  was  solemnly  and  prayerfully  reconsidered.  God 
seemed  to  be  calling  them  to  great  efforts,  and  they  dared  not  disobey 
the  call.  On  Monday,  January  27,  they  resolved  that  the  funds  of  the 
Board  did  not  warrant  the  sending  out  of  the  four  missionaries  with  full 
salaries;  that  it  be  recommended  to  them  to  go  without  their  wives;  or, 
if  this  was  inconsistent  with  arrangements  already  made,  that  they  go 
with  half  of  a  year's  salary ;  and  that,  if  the  Board  should  be  unable  to 
forward  the  other  half  to  them  in  India,  two  of  them  should  cast  them- 
selves on  the  London  Missionary  Society  for  support.  Thursday,  Feb.  6, 
was  appointed  for  their  ordination. 

Another  dififiicult  and  important  question  arose.  Mr.  Luther  Rice,  a 
licensed  preacher  from  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  desired  to 
join  the  mission.     His  recommendations  were  satisfactory.     His  heart 


1S12.]  DEPARTURE    OF    THE    FIRST    MISSIONARIES.  33 

• 

had  lono-  beiti"-  engao;cfl  in  the  cause,  though  peculiar  circumstances 
had  forbidden  him  to  offer  his  services.  On  the  other  hand,  funds  were 
wanting,  even  for  four ;  and  the  Committee  were  not  authorized  to  ac- 
cept mfssionaries  without  a  vote  of  the  Board.  Yet  they  dared  not  to 
reject  the  request  of  Mr.  Rice.  They  determined,  January  30,  to  send 
him  out  with  the  others,  and  he  determined  to  go,  knowing  that  the 
members  of  the  Committee  only,  as  individuals,  were  responsible  for  the 
act,  and  for  his  support.  r^ 

On  Tluirsday,  Feb.  6,  IS  11,  the  Tabernacle  at  Salem  rir-n  Mi«;o„arka 
was  crowded  with  an  attentive  and  interested  congregation,  "''""'''■ 
assembled  to  witness  and  to  engage  in  a  transaction,  such  as  this  west- 
ern world  had  never  yet  beheld.  Messrs.  Samuel  Newell,  Adoniram 
Judson,  Jr.,  Samuel  Nott,  Gordon  Hall,  and  Luther  Rice,  appeared  be- 
fore an  Ecclesiastical  Council,  and  were  examined  in  respect  to  their 
Christian  knowledge  and  piety,  and  their  motives  in  offering  themselves 
as  missionaries  to  the  heathen.  The  examination  being  pronounced 
satisfactory,  the  Council  proceeded  to  ordain  them,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Griffin  offered  the  introductory  prayer ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woods  preached 
the  sermon ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morse  offered  the  consecrating  prayer ;  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Spring  gave  the  charge ;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester  gave  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship.  "  A  season  of  more  impressive  solemnity," 
the  Committee  remarked  in  their  next  annual  report,  "  has  scarcely  been 
witnessed  in  our  country.  The  sight  of  five  young  men,  of  highly  re- 
spectable talents  and  attainments,  and  who  might  reasonably  have  pro- 
mised themselves  very  eligible  situations  in  our  churches,  forsaking 
parents  and  friends  and  country,  and  every  alluring  earthly  prospect, 
and  devoting  themselves  to  the  privations,  hardships  and  perils  of  a 
mission  for  life  to  a  people  sitting  in  darkness,  in  a  far  distant  and 
unpropitious clime,  could  not  fail  deeply  to  affect  every  heart  not  utterly 
destitute  of  feeling.  Nor  less  affecting  were  the  views  which  the  whole 
scene  was  calculated  to  impress,  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the 
pagan  world,  of  the  riches  of  divine  grace  displayed  in  the  gospel,  and 
of  "the  obligations  on  all  on  whom  this  grace  is  conferred,  to  use  their 
utmost  endeavors  in  making  the  gospel  universally  known.  God  was 
manifestly  present ;  a  crowded  and  attentive  assembly  testified,  with 
many  tears,  the  deep  interest  which  they  felt  in  the  occasion  ;  and  not 
a  few  remember  the  scene  with  fervent  gratitude,  and  can  say,  it  was 
good  to  be  there." 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Mr.  Nott  and  his  wife,  Mr.  Hall, 
and  Mr.  Rice,  left'^Salera  for  Philadelphia,  that  they  might  be  in  season 
for  the  sailing  of  the  Harmony  ;  Mr.  Judson  and  Mr.  Newell,  with  their 
wives,  expecting  to  embark  at  Salem  for  Calcutta,  in  the  Caravan,  early 
the  next  week.  Both  vessels  were  unexpectedly  detained.  The  Cara- 
van sailed  on  the  19th.  The  Harmony  left  Newcastle  on  the  20th,  but 
w^as  oblio-ed  by  contrary  winds  to  return  into  port,  and  did  not  leave  the 
capes  of'^Delaware  till  the  24th.  Among  the  passengers  on  board,  the 
Harmony,  were  the  Rev.  Mr.  May  and  wife,  and  Miss  Green,  sent  out 

5 


34  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1812. 

by  the  London  Missionary  Society ;  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Johns  and 
Lawson,  missionaries  of  the  English  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  with 
their  famihes.  No  other  opportunity  for  obtaining  a  passage  to  India 
occurred  for  many  months ;  and  in  June,  war  commenced  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

If  the  departure  of  the  missionaries  at  this  time  may  be  regarded  as 
providential,  the  unexpected  detention  of  the  vessels  was  no  less  so.  It 
gave  the  Committee  a  longer  time  to  collect  funds.  It  afforded  to 
Christians  whose  feelings  had  been  aroused  by  the  occasion,  opportunity 
to  contribute.  "  Money  flowed  in  from  all  quarters ;  and,  by  the  time 
that  the  Caravan  sailed,  the  Committee  were  able  to  meet  all  the  ex- 
penses of  fitting  out  the  missionaries,  and  to  advance  for  each  of  them 
a  whole  year's  salary.  In  addition  to  this,  collections  were  made  at 
Philadelphia,  during  the  same  interval  of  delay,  and  delivered  to  the 
brethren  who  sailed  from  that  port,"  to  the  amount  of  their  salaries  for 
nearly  a  year  and  a  quarter.  In  about  three  weeks  from  January  27, 
when  the  Committee  determined  to  go  forward,  more  than  |6,000  were 
collected  for  the  mission. 

In  their  instructions  to  the  missionaries,  the  Committee  expressed 
the  desire,  founded  on  the  best  information  they  had  been  able  to  obtain, 
that  the  seat  of  the  mission  should  be  in  some  part  of  the  Burman 
Empire;  but  they  directed  the  missionaries  to  collect  information  on  the 
subject  in  India,  and  then  act  according  to  their  own  discretion. 

These  instructions  are  remarkable  for  the  perfection  with  which 
they  mark  out  a  course  of  missionary  policy,  from  which  the  Board 
have  found  little  occasion  to  depart.     They  require  scrupulous  absti- 
nence from  all  intermeddling  with  political  concerns ;  that  the  mission 
be  early  organized  for  the  transaction  of  business,  with  a  secretary  and 
treasurer;  that  a  mission  church  be  formed,  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
gospel  duly  attended  ;  that  converts  be  treated  with  charity  and  with 
caution,  sufficient  time  being  allowed  for  trial  to  test  the  reality  of  their 
conversion,  and  thus  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  scandal  of  apostasy. 
They  add :    "  In  teaching  the  gentiles,  it  will  be  your  business,  not 
vehemently  to  declaim  against  their  superstitions,  but  in  the  meekness 
and  gentleness  of  Christ,  to  bring  them  as  directly  as  possible  to  the 
know-^ledge  of  the  truth.     It  is  the  truth,  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
which  is  mighty  through  God  to  the  fulling  down  of  strovg  holds,  cast- 
ing down  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing  which  exalteth  itself  against 
the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ.  So  far  as  the  truth  has  access,  so  as  to  produce  its  ef- 
fect, the  errors  and  superstitions  and  vices  of  paganism  will  fall  of  course." 
After  this  auspicious  beginning  in  respect  to  funds,  the  Committee 
did  not  relax  their  exertions.     At  the  time  of  the  annual  meeting,  about 
twenty  auxiliary  societies  had  been  formed,  and  had  remitted  more  than 
four  thousand  dollars  to  the  treasury. 

The  Incorporation  of        Thc  noblc  legacy  of  Mrs.  Norris,  of  $30,000,  was  con- 
ihe  Bourn.  tcstcd  at  law.     In  order  to  maintain  its  claims,  the  Board 


1812.]  ANNUAL    MEETING.  35 

must  have  a  legal  existence.  An  act  of  incorporation  was  therefore 
requested  and  obtained  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts.  Its  charter 
confines  it  to  the  work  of  "  propagating  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands,  by 
supporting  missionaries  and  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scriptures." 
It  can  hold  real  estate,  the  yearly  value  of  which  shall  not  exceed  four 
thousand  dollars,  and  personal  estate,  the  annual  income  of  which  shall 
not  be  more  than  eight  thousand  dollars.  It  was  authorized  to  elect 
members,  without  limitation  as  to  their  residence,  either  to  fill  vacan- 
cies or  in  addition  to  their  number.  The  appointment  of  Commissioners 
by  the  General  Associations  was  therefore  at  an  end.  Five  days  after 
the  date  of  the  act,  the  General  Association  "  voted,  that  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
in  procuring  the  act  of  incorporation  for  securing  its  funds,  and  in  the 
commencement  of  missions,  meet  the  entire  approbation  of  this  body."* 

The  third  annual  meeting  of  the  Board,  which  was  An,u.ui  Meeong. 
the  first  under  its  charter,  was  held  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Henry 
Hudson,  at  Hartford,  Ct.,  September  16  and  17,  1812.  There  were 
present  Gen.  Jedediah  Huntington,  Hon.  John  Treadwell,  LL.  D.,  Rev. 
Drs.  Lyman,  Dwight,  Spring,  Morse  and  Worcester,  Hon.  John  Hooker 
and  Rev.  Calvin  Chapin.  His  Honor  William  Philips  and  William 
Bartlett,  Esq.  were  unable  to  attend.  The  Board  was  enlarged  by  the 
election  of  thirteen  members  from  the  Northern  and  Middle  States.f 
The  Hon.  John  Treadwell  was  chosen  President ;  Rev.  Dr.  Spring  Vice 
President ;  William  Bartlett,  Esq.,  Rev.  Drs.  Spring  and  Worcester  and 
J.  Evarts,  Esq.,  Prudential  Committee ;  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester  Corres- 
ponding Secretary ;  Rev.  Mr.  Chapin  Recording  Secretary ;  J.  Evarts, 
Esq.  Treasurer,  and  S.  H.  Walley,  Esq.  Auditor. 

At  this  meeting  it  was  voted,  "  that  the  Prudential  Committee  pay 
an  immediate  and  particular  attention  to  the  circulation  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  the  various  languages  of  unevangelized  nations ;  and  that, 
as  soon  as  expedient,  they  expend  upon  this  object  as  much  at  least  of 
the  funds  of  the  Board  as  the  Act  of  Incorporation  requires;"  that  the 
Committee  annually  transmit  a  report  of  the  doings  of  the  Board  to  the 
General  Associations  of  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts, 
the  General  Convention  of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  ministers 
in  Vermont,  aud  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church ; 
that  Messrs.  Hooker  and  Lyman  be  a  committee  to  print  and  distribute 
among  the  Iroquois  Indians,  in  their  own  language,  such  Christian 
writings  as  in  their  judgment  may  be  expedient ;  and  that  the  Board 
will  continue  their  patronage  to  Mr.  Eleazer  Williams  in  preparing  for 
the  ministry. 

The  whole  amount  of  donations  to  the  Board,  from  the  last  annual 
meeting  to  June  20,  was  $12,587,36  ;  the  whole  amount  received  by 
the  treasurer,  including  the  balance  from  the  account  of  last  year, 

*  For  the  Charter,  see  Appendix,  A. 

t  For  a  list  of  corporate  members  of  the  Board,  with  the  times  of  their 
election,  see  Appendix,  B. 


36  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1812. 

$13,791,00;  the  whole  expenditures  of  the  Board,  $9,699,37;  balance 
on  hand,  $4,091,63. 

Newell  and  juiso,,  But  it  IS  tliTie  to  follow  the  missionaries  in  their  wander- 

arrive  ai caicutm.  \^crs.  After  an  agrecablc  passage,  Messrs.  Newell  and 
Judson,  with  their  wives,  arrived  at  Calcutta  on  the  17th  of  June,  1812. 
But  they  were  embarrassed,  as  English  missionaries  had  been,  by  the 
opposition  of  the  Government.  The  British  East  India  Company  was 
formed  and  all  its  acquisitions  of  territory  were  made  for  commercial 
purposes;  and  the  character  and  regulations  of  its  government  appear 
to  have  been  formed  without  any  expectation  that  they  were  to  affect  the 
religious  condition  and  destiny  of  millions.  At  first,  their  possessions 
amounted  merely  to  a  single  trading  post.  Afterwards,  native  tribes 
and  nations  put  themselves  under  their  protection  and  control,  or  sub- 
mitted to  thein  at  the  conclusion  of  a  war,  on  condition,  among  other 
things,  of  being  permitted  to  enjoy  their  own  laws  and  religion  un- 
molested. The  continuance  of  their  power  depended,  in  a  great  degree, 
on  their  influence  over  these  allied  nations,  by  which  they  were  able  to 
employ  the  force  of  many,  in  crushing  any  one  which  should  revolt. 
The  Directors  did  not  think  it  proper  to  hazard  the  commercial  interests 
which  had  been  intrusted  to  their  management,  by  attempting, 
or  permitting  others  to  attempt,  revolutions  in  the  state  of  society, 
which  might  shock  the  prejudices  of  the  natives.  JNIissionaries, 
therefore,  were  sometimes  ordered  home  on  their  fust  arrival,  and  some- 
times suffered  to  remain  without  formal  permission,  and  liable  to  be 
sent  away  at  any  moment. 

Order  10  retura  Soon   after  thclr  arrival,  Messrs.  Newell  and  Judson 

'"""^'  were  ordered  to  return  home  in  the  same  vessel  that  brought 

them,  and  were  informed  that  the  vessel  would  not  be  allowed  to  de- 
part without  them.  Their  Christian  friends  at  Calcutta  and  Serampore, 
who  had  received  them  with  great  cordiality  and  affection,  now  sympa- 
thized deeply  in  their  distress ;  employing  on  their  behalf,  earnest  so- 
licitations to  the  Government,  and  special,  united  prayer  to  God.  At 
length  it  was  unofficially  intimated  by  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  gov- 
ernment, that  perhaps  the  order  would  not  be  enforced,  if  they  would 
promise  soon  to  leave  the  territories  subject  to  the  Company's  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  soon  after,  liberty  w^as  granted  them  to  depart,  by  any  con- 
veyance, to  any  other  place  whatever. 

Mr.  Newell  soes  10  Whither  should  they  go  ?     Burmah,  they  had  learned, 

Deaihof'Mr'.'l'jsew.  was  distractcd  by  foreign  and  civil  war.  Besides,  a  mis- 
'"•  sion  of  the  London  Society  in  that  country  had  been  aban- 

doned ;  and  of  a  Baptist  mission,  all  had  left  the  country  but  one,  after 
expending  more  than  $10,000  upon  the  enterprise.  Accounts  from  all 
the  regions  to  the  east  of  Calcutta  were  equally  discouraging.  A  letter 
was  received  from  the  brethren  who  sailed  in  the  Harmony,  dated  at 
the  Isle  of  France,  stating  that  the  Governor  of  that  island  was  favora- 
ble to  missions,  w^as  desirous  that  a  mission  should  be  established  in  the 
neighboring  island  of  Madagascar,  and  had  even  made  application  to 


1812.  JUDSON    AND    RICE    BECOME    BAPTISTS.  37 

the  London  Missionary  Society  for  that  purpose.  There  they  would  be 
out  of  the  dominions  of  the  East  India  Company  ;  and  if  no  favorable 
opening  should  be  found  in  that  vicinity,  they  might  perhaps  go  thence 
to  Ceylon,  or  some  other  place  not  subject  to  the  Company's  control. 
They  determined  to  go.  Accordingly,  on  the  4th  of  August,  having  had 
but  three  days  to  prepare,  Mr.  and  Airs.  Newell  embarked  for  the  Isle 
of  France,  on  board  a  vessel  which  could  not  receive  a  greater  number 
of  passengers.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were  expected  soon  to  follow  them. 
Their  passage  was  long  and  perilous.  After  having  been  driven  about 
for  a  month  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  during  which  Mrs.  Newell  was  sick 
of  a  fever,  the  ship  put  into  Coringa  in  distress.  They  left  that  port  on 
the  19th  of  September,  and  early  in  November  arrived  at  the  place  of 
their  destination.  About  three  weeks  before  their  arrival,  they  had 
committed  to  the  deep  the  body  of  an  infant  daughter,  five  days  old. 
From  this  time,  Mrs.  Newell  rapidly  declined.  Her  disease,  the  con- 
sumption, baffled  medical  skill ;  and  on  the  30th  of  November,  at  Port 
Louis,  she  was  released  from  the  toils  and  sorrows  of  this  mortal  life. 
The  tidings  of  her  death  made  a  deep  and  powerful  impression.  An 
excellent  memoir,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woods,  of  Andover,  was 
widely  circulated,  and  still  continues  to  be  read  with  intense  interest. 
Perhaps  no  early  missionary,  even  by  a  long  life  of  faithful  labors,  has 
accomplished  more  for  the  heathen,  than  she  accomplished  by  consecra- 
ting herself  to  their  cause,  and  dying  for  them  before  the  mission  had 
found  a  resting  place. 

About  the  eighth  of  August,  the  Harmony  arrived  at  „,„,  ^,„„  ^,„j 
Calcutta.  On  the  20th,  Messrs.  Hall,  Nott  and  Rice  were  '''"  "'"■^• 
summoned  to  the  police  office.  They  attended  the  next  day,  and  were 
ordered  to  return  in  the  Harmony.  In  about  an  hour,  they  presented 
their  written  request  to  be  permitted  to  depart  by  the  first  opportunity  to 
the  Isle  of  France,  and  that  the  Harmony  might  not  be  detained  on  their 
account.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother,  dated  Aug.  28,  Mr.  Rice  states  that 
the  request  had  been  granted.  Dr.  Marshrnan  had  obtained  leave  for 
the  Baptist  brethren  who  came  with  them,  to  remain  "  until  the  will  of 
the  Directors  should  be  known." 

On  the  27th  of  August,  Mr.  Judson  went  to  Serarapore,  jucson  and  Rice 
and  informed  the  Baptist  missionaries  there  that  he  and  his  "'=■=''■"« "»p"='^' 
wife  had  adopted  their  views  of  baptism.  They  were  immersed  on  the 
first  Sabbath  in  September.  On  the  first  of  September,  he  w-rote  to  the 
Corresponding  Secretary,  announcing  his  w'ithdrawment  of  himself  from 
under  the  instructions  of  the  Board.  This  "  trying  event"  was  also 
communicated  to  the  Secretary  in  a  letter  from  Messrs.  Hall,  Rice  and 
Nott,  dated  Sept.  26.  But  it  was  not  to  be  their  only  trial.  On  the 
23d  of  October,  xVIr.  Rice  also  informed  the  Secretary  that  he  had 
changed  his  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  baptism,  and  could  no  longer 
follow  the  instructions  of  the  Board.  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Judson  and  Mr. 
Rice  repaired  to  the  Isle  of  France.  Mr.  Judson,  with  his  wife,  after- 
wards returned  to  India,  and  commenced  the  Baptist  mission  in  Burmah. 


38  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1812. 

Mr.  Rice  returned,  by  way  of  Brazil,  to  the  United  States,  to  enlist  the 
Baptist  churches  in  the  work.  Hence  arose  the  Baptist  Board  of  For- 
eign Missions. 

Removal  to  Bom-  Mcssi's.  Hall  and  Nott  still  remained  at  Calcutta,  under 

*"""'  the  direction  of  the  Board.     Being  disappointed  of  a  pas- 

sage to  the  Isle  of  France,  they  continued  their  inquiries  for  the  best 
location  for  a  mission.  In  October,  they  learned  that  a  new  Governor, 
Sir  Evan  Nepean,  a  Vice  President  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  and  a  friend  of  Christian  missions,  had  arrived  at  Bombay.  They 
resolved  to  attempt  the  establishment  of  amission  there.  They  accord- 
ingly applied  to  the  police,  and  obtained  a  general  passport,  "  to  depart 
in  the  ship  Commerce."  Their  baggage  was  on  board  and  their  pas- 
sage money  paid,  when,  November  17,  they  were  served  with  an  order 
from  the  government,  to  proceed  to  England  in  the  fleet  then  about  to 
saih  There  appears  to  be  some  reason  to  doubt  whether  the  government 
intended  to  enforce  this  order. 

The  missionaries,  in  this  extremity,  attempted  to  bring  their  case 
before  Lord  Minto  in  person  ;  but  in  vain.  They  then,  as  their  pass- 
ports had  not  been  revoked,  applied  to  the  captain  of  the  Commerce, 
for  permission  to  go  on  board  and  wait  the  result.  The  captain,  hav- 
ing first  reported  them  as  passengers  and  obtained  a  port  clearance  for 
his  vessel,  consented ;  and  on  the  20th  of  November  they  embarked. 
The  police  searched  the  city  for  them,  but  did  not  search  the  ship  in 
which,  but  a  few  days  before,  they  had  authorized  them  to  depart. 
Their  names  were  published  in  the  Calcutta  papers  as  passengers  on 
board  the  fleet.  About  40  miles  down  the  river,  they  passed  a  vessel 
which  had  been  stopped  for  having  missionaries  on  board.  Still,  they 
were  suffered  to  depart  without  molestation,  and  the  close  of  the  year 
found  them,  full  of  hope,  on  their  passage  to  Bombay. 

As  war  now  existed  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
intercourse  with  India,  and  especially  the  transmission  of  funds,  was 
rendered  difficult  and  uncertain.  The  Board  therefore  made  arrange- 
ments with  Samuel  Williams  and  Junius  Smith,  Esqrs.  of  London,  and 
the  Hon.  John  H.  Harrington,  Rev.  David  Brown  and  Rev.  William 
Carey  of  Calcutta,  to  act  as  their  agents  for  the  transaction  of  business. 
In  December,  intelligence  was  received  of  the  burning  of  the  Serampore 
mission  printing  office,  containing  2000  reams  of  paper,  and  fonts  of  type 
in  fourteen  ol  the  languages  of  Asia ;  a  loss  estimated  at  more  than 
$53,000.  An  article  in  the  Panoplist  solicited  donations  to  repair  the  loss ; 
and  offered  this  agency  as  the  medium  of  transmission  to  India.  A  very 
considerable  amount  was  raised  and  thus  transmitted. 


1813.]  MR.    NEWELL   AT    CEYLON.  39 


CHAPTER    V. 

1813. — Annual  Meeting  at  Boston. — By-laws  amended. — Mr.  Newell  ffoes  to 
Ceylon,  and  labors  there.— Hall  and  Nott  arrive  at  Bombay.— Unfavorable 
Reports. — The  AlHgator  seized  and  condemned,  and  the  Missionaries  sus- 
pected to  be  political  emissaries. — Orders  for  their  transportation  to  Eng- 
land.— They  escape  to  Cochin  ;  are  arrested  and  brought  back. — Orders  lo 
be  ready  to  sail  in  two  days. — Their  final  appeal  to  the  Governor. — They 
are  permitted  to  remain. 

Of  the  domestic  transactions  of  the  Board  this  year,  there  is  httle  to 
record.  The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Boston,  September  15,  16  and 
17.  The  officers  of  the  preceding  year  were  re-elected,  except  that  Charles 
Walley,  Esq.  was  chosen  Auditor,  instead  of  S,  H.  Walley,  Esq.,  who  de- 
chned  re-election.  During  the  year  then  ending,  several  auxiliary  societies 
had  been  formed,  and  more  than  $11,000  had  been  received  in  donations. 

At  this  meeting,  votes  were  passed,  declaring  the  relation  of  the 
Board  to  Messrs.  Judson  and  Rice  dissolved,  from  the  date  of  their  let- 
ters, stating  that  tliey  could  no  longer  obey  the  instructions  of  the  Board, 
and  withdrawing  from  its  connexion. 

A  by-law  was  adopted,  authorizing  the  Prudential  Committee  to 
receive  and  decide  upon  applications  of  candidates  for  employment  as 
missionaries;  to  expend  money  in  completing  the  qualifications  of  ap- 
plicants ;  to  send  them  on  such  missions  as  they  should  deem  proper  ; 
and  to  suspend,  till  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board,  such  as  violate  their 
instructions,  or  fail  to  perform  their  duties. 

On  the  24th  of  February,  Mr.  Newell  embarked  at  m^  Neweiuoes .» 
Mauritius,  in  a  Portuguese  vessel  bound  to  Bombay,  but  '^'*'""- 
expecting  to  touch  at  Ceylon.  On  his  arrival  at  Point  de  Galle,  where 
he  expected  to  meet  one  or  both  of  his  brethren,  he  learned  that  they 
were  both  at  Bombay.  Supposing  that  the  government  would  not  al- 
low the  establishment  of  a  mission  at  that  place,  and  being  assured  of 
the  protection  and  favor  of  Governor  Brownrigg,  he  determined  to 
remain  in  Ceylon.  He  immediately  wrote  to  thelDrethren  at  Bombay, 
and  learned,  in  return,  that  they  had  some  hope  of  being  allowed  to  es- 
tablish a  mission  there.  They  advised  him  to  study  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  joining  them.  In  these  studies,  and  in  preaching  twice  or  three 
times  a  week  to  the  English  and  half-caste  people,  of  whom  he  says, 
"  there  are  thousands  in  and  about  Colombo,  who  stand  in  need  of  in- 
struction as  much  as  the  heathen,"  he  spent  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

In  November,  ]\Ir.  Newell  wrote  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary. 
Bereft  of  his  wife  and  child,  and  believing,  as  he  then  did,  that  the 
brethren  at  Bombay  had  been  sent  to  England,  and  that  he  was  left 
without  an  associate  in  missionary  labors,  his  heart  still  reniained  firm, 


40  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [18 13. 

and  his  devotion  to  the  work  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  his  convic- 
tion of  its  importance,  undiminished.  Beheving  himself  excluded  from 
continental  India,  he  was  deliberating  whether  to  attempt  a  mission  in 
Ceylon,  or  at  Bassora,  at  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  success  of 
the  mission  soon  after  established  by  the  Board  in  Ceylon,  the  circum- 
stances which  have  favored  its  success,  and  its  final  extension  to  the 
Tamul  people  on  the  adjacent  continent,  show  the  correctness  of  the 
judgment  he  then  formed  of  its  advantages. 

Hall  and  Nutt  arrive  Mcssrs.  Hall  aud  Nott  arrlvcd  at  Bombay,  on  the  11th 
aiBombay.  of  Fcbruary.     The  next  day,  by  the  advice  of  William  T. 

Money,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  to  whom  the  mission  has  since  been  indebted 
for  many  favors,  they  addressed  a  note  to  the  Governor,  informing  him 
of  their  arrival,  stating  their  object,  and  requesting  permission  to  re- 
main. On  visiting  the  police  office,  the  same  day,  they  were  told  that 
they  would  not  be  permitted  to  remain ;  that  unfavorable  reports  con- 
cerning them  had  arrived  from  Calcutta  ;  that  they  were  charged  with 
having  violated  their  promise  to  go  to  the  Isle  of  France,  and  with  hav- 
ing concealed  themselves,  while  the  police  were  searching  for  them,  to 
send  them  to  England.  On  the  18th,  they  addressed  a  memorial  to  (he 
Governor,  giving  a  full  account  of  their  proceedings  at  Calcutta.  This 
was  accompanied  by  copies  of  all  their  correspondence  with  the  author- 
ities at  that  place,  and  of  their  instructions  from  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee. The  statement  was  satisfactory.  The  Governor  not  only 
permitted  them  to  remain  for  the  present,  but  wrote  to  the  Governor 
General  at  Calcutta  in  their  behalf. 

sei7.ure  of  ihe  Eor  a  tlmc,  it  was  thought  that  the  Governor's  repre- 

Au.giuor.  sentations  would  be  successful ;  but  a  very  unexpected  dif- 

ficulty arose.  The  schooner  Alligator  arrived  at  Calcutta  on  the  6th 
of  May.  She  professed  to  be  bound  to  Arracan,  and  to  be  driven  into 
Calcutta  by  stress  of  weather.  She  had  a  letter  of  protection  from 
Admiral  Sir  John  Borlase  Warren,  commanding  the  British  fleet  on  the 
Halifax  station,  describing  her  as  a  missionary  vessel,  sent  out  to  com- 
municate with  American  missionaries  in  India,  and  especially,  with 
some  who  were  supposed  to  be  in  Siam ;  and  granting  her  protection 
from  capture  on  her  voyage  and  in  British  ports.  From  some  cause, 
suspicion  was  excited,  and  the  Alligator  was  seized.  On  examination, 
the  court  found,  or  professed  to  find,  that  she  had  been  cruising  for  six 
weeks  off  the  Cape,  to  inform  American  vessels  of  the  declaration  of 
war.  By  this,  it  was  decided,  she  had  forfeited  her  neutral  character. 
She  was  condemned,  and  her  crew  were  sent  to  England  as  prisoners 
of  war.  It  was  said,  too,  that  she  appeared  to  have  come  prepared  for 
planting  an  American  colony  in  the  East.  There  is  a  mystery  about 
this  transaction,  which,  probably,  wnll  never  be  fully  explained.  In 
the  archives  of  the  Board,  there  is  a  letter  to  the  British  Consul  in  Bos- 
ton, describing  the  intended  voyage  of  the  Alligator,  mentioning  the 
desire  of  the  Prudential  Committee  to  send  supplies  by  her  to  the  mis- 
sionaries in  India,  and  requesting,  on  that  account,  a  letter  of  protection' 


1813.]  SEIZURE   OF   THE   ALLIGATOR.  4l 

from  Admiral  Warren.  There  is  also  a  note  from  Admiral  Warren, 
saying  that  he  had  granted  the  letter  of  protection,  and  describing  its 
contents.  The  letter  of  protection  itself  was  sent  directly  to  the  owner 
or  master  of  the  Alligator,  and,  of  course,  never  was  seen  by  any  officer 
of  the  Board.  From  Admiral  Warren's  note,  it  appears  to  have  as- 
cribed to  the  Alligator  a  more  exclusively  missionary  character,  than 
had  been  claimed  for  her  in  the  letter  requesting  the  protection ;  and, 
very  probably,  some  discrepancy  between  her  character  and  the  Admi- 
ral's description  of  her,  might  have  been  manifest  on  inspection  at  Cal- 
cutta. Further  than  this,  there  is  nothing  to  show  whose  mistake,  fraud, 
or  deliberate  injustice,  is  chargeable  with  the  result.  However  that 
may  be,  the  supreme  government  of  India  took  occasion  to  suspect  that 
the  American  mission  to  India  was  some  deep  political  plot,  disguised 
under  the  pretense  of  religion.  Still,  the  letters,  books  and  supphes, 
sent  out  by  the  Alligator,  were,  after  some  delay,  forwarded  to  the 
missionaries. 

Intelligence  of  the  condemnation  of  the  Alligator  reached  Bombay 
in  the  summer,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  the  missionaries  and  their  friends, 
the  suspicions  growing  out  of  that  affair  then  formed  the  chief  obstacle 
to  their  peaceable  residence  in  that  Presidency.  The  Governor  ex- 
pressed his  fear  that  he  should  be  obliged  to  send  them  to  Eno-land. 
Mr.  Money  informed  them  that  he  had  seen  their  names  on  the  hst  of 
passengers  in  the  Caarmarthen,  then  about  to  sail  for  England.  They, 
therefore,  August  18,  addressed  another  memorial  to  the  Governor' 
showing  that  their  mission  had  no  connexion  with  the  war,  and  request- 
ing permission  to  remain.  Before  the  departure  of  the  Caarmarthen, 
letters  were  received  from  home,  informing  them  of  the  appointment  of 
a  Committee  at  Calcutta,  to  co-operate  in  the  mission.  The  missiona- 
ries submitted  these  letters  to  the  Governor  for  his  perusal,  and  request- 
ed permission  to  remain  till  the  Committee  at  Calcutta  could  act  in  their 
behalf.  The  Governor  declared  himself  exceedingly  embarrassed  by 
the  situation  of  affairs,  and  that,  if  left  to  himself,  he  would  not  send 
them  away. 

About  five  days  afterwards,  they  received  letters  from  Mr.  Newell, 
and  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thompson,  chaplain  at  Madras,  urging  their 
removal  to  Ceylon.  These  were  also  sent  to  the  Governor  for  his  pe- 
rusal, with  a  request,  that,  if  they  could  not  be  allowed  to  remain  at 
Bombay,  he  would  permit  them  to  remove  to  Ceylon. 

Various  expedients  were  devised  by  the  missionaries.  Escape  to  cochin. 
their  friends,  and  the  Governor  himself,  to  avoid  the  necessity  of 
sending  them  to  England;  but  all  were  frustrated.  The  Caarmar- 
then was  about  to  sail,  and  they  must  go.  But  one  other  course 
appeared  to  remain,  and  that,  after  serious  and  prayerful  consideration, 
they  determined  to  adopt.  It  was,  to  depart,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  government,  to  some  place  not  under  the  Company's  jurisdiction. 
Lest  their  friends  should  be  needlessly  involved  in  trouble  on  their  ac- 
count, they  made  known  their  intention  to  but  one  person.    Their  con- 

6 


42  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1813. 

iidant  was  Lieut.  John  Wade,  a  young  man  of  noble  descent,  and,  at 
that  time,  Military  Aid  and  Secretary  to  the  Commander  in  Chief  on 
the  Bombay  station.  He  had  become  acquainted  with  them  soon  after 
their  arrival,  and  regarded  their  faithful  labors  as  the  means  of  his  con- 
version. He  volunteered  his  services  in  this  trying  crisis ;  and,  on  the 
18th  of  October,  gave  them  information  of  a  vessel  going  to  Cochin, 
and  thence,  it  was  understood,  to  Columbo,  in  Ceylon,  which  would 
receive  them  as  passengers,  if  they  could  be  ready  in  four  or  five  hours. 
Having  written  a  few  hasty  notes  of  explanation  to  their  friends,  taking 
a  few  of  their  most  necessary  articles,  and  leaving  Mrs.  Nott  and  her 
child,  they  went  on  board.  Lieut.  Wade  made  all  the  necessary  ar- 
rangements, gave  up  his  own  servants  to  assist  them  on  their  voyage, 
and  went  with  them,  in  a  small  boat,  to  see  them  safe  on  board  the 
country  vessel,  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  After  their  departure,  he 
prepared  and  circulated  a  defence  of  their  proceedings. 

On  the  voyage,  it  appears  from  Mr.  Hall's  journal,  he  had  some 
fears  lest  they  had  sinned  in  leaving  Bombay  as  they  did ;  "yet,  after 
all,"  he  adds,  "  I  know  not  why  it  was  not  as  right  for  us  to  escape 
from  Bombay,  as  it  was  for  Paul  to  escape  from  Damascus."  The 
question  whether  they  judged  correctly  concerning  their  duty,  is  by  no 
means  free  from  difficulty  -,  but  every  candid  man  will  easily  see  much 
that  was  commendable  in  their  spirit  and  intentions. 

They  arrived  at  Cochin  on  the  30th  of  October,  and,  partly  through 
the  provident  arrangements  of  Lieut.  Wade,  were  kindly  received  by 
the  magistrates.  The  vessel  which  brought  them,  they  now  found 
was  not  going  to  Ceylon.  After  waiting  till  the  5th  of  November, 
during  which  time  they  visited  the  Jews  and  Syrian  Christians  in 
that  vicinity,  they  engaged  a  passage  in  another  vessel,  and  expected 
to  sail  the  next  morning ;  but  that  evening  the  magistrate  received  an 
order  from  Bombay,  requiring  him  to  send  them  back  by  the  first  op- 
portunity. On  their  return,  they  learned  that  the  Governor  considered 
their  departure  derogatory  to  their  character,  both  as  gentlemen  and  as 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  If  might,  too,  as  he  had  shown  such  a  desire  to 
favor  them,  subject  him  to  the  suspicion  of  connivance  in  their  escape. 
At  first  they  were  not  permitted  to  land,  but  were  kept  prisoners  on 
board  the  Company's  cruiser,  Ternate.  On  the  4th  of  December,  they 
addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Governor,  stating  the  reasons  why  they 
supposed  themselves  as  much  at  liberty  when  they  left  Bombay,  as  when 
they  arrived  there  :  and  maintaining  their  right,  under  the  command 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  prevented  from  preaching  the  gospel  in 
one  city,  to  "  flee  to  another."  They  appealed  to  his  Christian  feelings, 
whether,  in  such  circumstances,  they  ought  not,  in  a  way  sanctioned  by 
apostolic  example,  to  "  obey  God  rather  than  men." 
They  arc  ordered  Aftcr  havlug  becu  confiucd  to  the  ship  ten  days,  they 

to  England.  -werc  brought  to  the  police  office,  and  were  required  to  sign  a 

bond,  in  the  sum  of  4,000  rupees,  not  to  leave  Bombay  without  permis- 
sion.    They  declined  signing  the  bond.     They  also  refused  to  give  their 


1813.]  FINAL    APPEAL    TO    THE    GOVERNOR    OF    BOMBAY.  43 

parole  to  the  same  effect,  or  even  that  they  would  remain  till  Monday. 
They  were  remanded  to  the  ship.  Being  brought  again  to  the  police 
office  the  next  day,  they  were  informed  that  the  Governor  had  received 
their  memorial  kindly,  though  he  still  considered  their  conduct  blame- 
worthy. They  were  then  sent  to  the  admiralty  house,  with  directions 
not  to  leave  the  island  without  application  to  the  government,  and  to  be 
ready  to  depart  for  England  in  the  next  ship ;  for,  during  their  absence, 
the  Caarmarthen  had  sailed. 

Meanwhile,  the  Committee  at  Calcutta  were  exerting  Ti.cir  ia«i  appeal  to 
themselves  in  their  favor;  and,  on  the  10th  of  December,  ""^'^"'"""''• 
they  received  a  note  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomason,  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  had  been  appointed  a  member  of  that  Committee, 
informing  them  of  "  a  favorable  intimation  from  government,  which 
granted  all  that  they  requested."  This  they  laid  before  the  Governor. 
Still,  as  he  had  received  no  reversal  of  his  positive  orders  to  send  them 
to  England,  he  felt  bound  to  obey ;  and,  on  the  20th,  they  received 
official  notice  that  they  were  to  sail  on  the  22d.  They  immediately 
prepared  to  embark ;  but,  as  a  last  effort,  submitted  one  more  address 
to  Sir  Evan  Nepean,  not  as  Governor,  but  as  a  man  and  a  Christian. 
As  a  specimen  of  energetic  boldness  without  disrespect,  considering  the 
circumstances  in  which  it  was  written,  it  has  seldom  been  equalled. 
There  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  it  should  not  now  be  published  entire. 

"  To  the  Eight  Honorable  Sir  Evan  Nepean,  Governor,  &c.  ^c. 

"  Right  Honorable  Sir, — We  understand  that  the  final  arrangements  for 
our  being  transported  to  England  are  now  made.  At  this  decisive  moment, 
we  beg  to  submit  to  your  Excellency  the  following  considerations. 

"  That  exercise  of  civil  authority,  which,  in  a  manner  so  conspicuous  and 
determined,  is  about  to  prohibit  two  ministers  of  Christ  from  preaching  his 
gospel  in  India,  can  be  of  no  ordinary  consequence  ;  especially  at  the  present 
moment,  when  the  Christian  public,  in  England  and  America,  are  waiting 
with  pious  solicitude  to  hear  how  the  religion  of  the  Bible  is  welcomed  and 
encouraged  among  the  pagans  of  this  country.  Our  case  has  had  so  full  and 
conspicuous  a  trial,  that  its  final  decision  may  serve  as  a  specimen,  by  which 
the  friends  of  religion  may  learn  what  is  likely  to  befall,  in  India,  those  evan- 
gelical missions,  which  they  are  laboring  to  support  by  their  prayers  and  by 
their  substance. 

"  Had  the  decision  been  favorable  to  missions,  it  would  have  encouraged 
the  hearts  of  thousands  to  increase  their  exertions  for  the  enlargement  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom ;  it  would  have  brought  thanksgivings  to  God,  and  bless- 
ings to  the  heathen.  But  if  the  decision  must  be  uniavorable,  it  will  tend  to 
deject  the  hearts  of  Christians;  it  will  casta  new  cloud  of  darkness  over  this 
heathen  land,  and  discourage  many  from  attempting  to  rescue  the  poor  pagans 
from  tlie  doom  which  awaits  idolaters.  This  momentous  decision,  Right 
Honorable  Sir,  rests  with  you. 

"  Now,  we  would  solemnly  appeal  to  your  Excellency's  conscience,  and 
ask:  Does  not  your  Excellency  believe,  that  it  is  the  will  of  Christ  (hat  his 
gospel  should  be  preached  to  these  heathens  ?  Do  you  not  believe,  that  we 
have  given  a  creditable  testimony  that  we  are  ministers  of  Christ,  and  have 
come  to  this  country  to  preach  liis  gospel  1  And  would  not  prohiliiting  us 
from  preaching  to  the  heathen  here,  be  a  known  resistance  to  his  Avill  ?  If 
your  Excellency  finally  exerts  civil  authority  to  compel  us  from  this  heathen 


44  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1813. 

land,  what  can  it  be  but  a  decided  opposition  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  among 
those  immortal  beings,  whom  God  has  placed  under  your  Excellency's  govern- 
ment ?  What  can  it  be  but  a  iresh  instance  of  that  persecution  against  the 
church  of  Christ,  and  that  opposition  to  the  prevalence  of  true  religion,  which 
have  so  often  provoked  the  indignation  of  God,  and  stamped  with  sin  and  guilt 
the  history  of  every  age?  Can  you.  Right  Honorable  Sir,  make  it  appear  to 
be  otherwise  to  your  own  conscience — to  that  Christian  public  who  must  be 
judges  in  this  case — but,  especially,  can  you  justify  such  an  exercise  of  power 
to  your  God  and  final  Judge  ? 

"  Your  Excellency  has  been  pleased  to  say,  that  it  is  your  duty  to  send  us 
to  England,  because  you  have  received  positive  orders  from  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment to  do  so.  But,  Right  Honorable  Sir,  is  not  this  advancing  a  princi- 
ple, which,  if  correct,  would  reprieve  from  the  long-recorded  decision  of  Heav- 
en, all  the  sanguinary  persecutors  who  executed  the  horrid  decrees  of  Herod, 
Nero,  and  Trajan, — who  made  themselves  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  mar- 
tyrs of  Jesus, — and  who,  as  God  has  declared,  shall  have  blood  to  drink,  for 
tliey  are  worthy?  These  persecutors  destroyed  the  saints  of  the  Most  High; 
they  were  positively  ordered  to  do  so  by  superior  authority;  but  for  doing  so, 
have  they  not  been  sentenced  to  eternal  death  ?  But  were  they  not  perfectly 
innocent,  if  your  Excellency  reasons  correctly  in  saying,  that  it  is  your  duty 
to  send  us  away  because  you  are  ordered  to  do  so  by  superior  authority  ?  The 
persecutors  of  the  saints  might  have  reasoned  in  the  same  way,  and  said  that 
it  was  their  duty  to  destroy Ihe  disciples  of  Jesus,  because  they  were  ordered 
to  do  so  by  superior  authority. 

"Your  Excellency  knows,  perfectly  well,  that  whenever  human  commands 
run  counter  to  divine  commands,  they  cease  to  be  obligatory ;  and  that  no  man 
can  aid  in  the  execution  or  support  of  such  counter  commands,  without  aiming 
violence  a,t  the  authority  of  Heaven.  Can  your  Excellency,  or  any  other  man, 
deny  the  truth  of  this  ? 

"  But  were  it  even  admitted,  that  whatever  is  ordered  by  a  superior  author- 
ity is  right  to  be  done,  would  not  our  case  stand  thus :  Several  months  ago, 
your  Excellency  received  from  the  supreme  government  positive  orders  to 
Bend  us  to  England  ;  but  repeatedly  expressed  a  deep  regret  that  you  were 
obliged  to  execute  such  orders  upon  us.  But  a  few  days  since,  we  had  the 
happiness  to  present  to  your  Excellency  such  communications  from  Bengal, 
as  were  acknowledged  to  evince  such  a  change  in  the  mind  of  Lord  Minto,  as 
that  he  was  willing  we  should  remain  in  the  country,  and  that  Lord  Moira 
was  also  favorablelto  our  staying.  May  not  your  Excellency,  therefore,  pre- 
sume, that  notwithstanding  the  previous  orders  of  the  supreme  government,  it 
has  since  become  their  pleasure  that  we  should  remain  in  the  country  ? 

"  Besides,  those  communications  farther  state,  that  the  subject  was  soon  to 
come  before  the  Council  for  a  formal  decision.  But  delays  are  so  liable  to  occur 
in  such  cases,  that  at  this  moment  a  reasonable  time  has  hardly  elapsed  for  the 
arrival  of  an  official  decision,  though  we  have  reason  to  expect  it  daily. 

"  Under  such  circumstances,  could  your  Excellency  be  judged  unfaithful  to 
your  trust,  should  you  at  least  suspend  our  departure  until  a  lurther  time  were 
allowed  tor  official  coommunications  to  be  received  from  Bengal?  By  so 
doing,  could  you  be  thought  to  take  upon  yourself  an  unjustifiable  responsibi- 
lity ;°especially  when  it  is  considered  what  a  discussion  the  spreading  of  the 
gospel  in  India  has  undergone  in  England;  and  how  great  is  the  probability, 
that  something  decidedly  in  its  favor  will  soon  be  announced  in  this  country  ? 
Therefore,  wo^ld  not,  under  such  circumstances,  to  prohibit  us  from  preaching 
to  the  heathen,  be  an  act  of  opposition  to  the  spread  of  religion,  where  even 
political  motives  could  not  be  urged  in  its  defence  ? 

"  It  is  our  ardent  wish,  that  your  Excellency  would  compare,  most  serious- 
ly, such  an  exercise  of  civil  authority  upon  us,  with  the  general  spirit  and  tenor 
of  our  Savior'fi  commands.  We  most  earnestly  entreat  you  not  to  send  us  away 


1813.]  THEY   ARE    PERMITTED   TO   REMAIN.  45 

from  these  heathens.  We  entreat  you  by  the  high  probabihty,  that  an  official 
permission  from  the  supreme  government  for  us  to  remain  here,  will  shortly  be 
received ;  and  that  something  more  general,  and  to  the  same  effect,  will  soon 
arrive  from  England.  We  entreat  you  by  the  time  and  money  already  ex- 
pended on  our  mission,  and  by  the  Christian  hopes  and  prayers  attending  it, 
not  utterly  to  defeat  its  pious  object  by  sending  us  from  the  country.  We  en- 
treat you  by  the  spiritual  miseries  of  the  headien,  who  are  daily  perishing  be- 
fore your  eyes,  and  under  your  Excellency's  government,  not  to  prevent  us 
from  preaching  Christ  to  them.  We  entreat  you  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  which 
he  shed  to  redeem  them.  As  ministers  of  Him  who  has  all  power  in  heaven 
and  on  earth,  and  who,  with  his  farewell  and  ascending  voice,  commanded  his 
ministers  to  go  and  leach  all  nations,  we  entreat  you  not  to  prohibit  us  from 
teaching  these  heathens.  By  all  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion,  by  which 
you  hope  to  be  saved,  we  entreat  you  not  to  hinder  us  from  preaching  the 
same  religion  to  these  perishing  idolaters.  By  all  the  solennhties  of  the  judg- 
ment-day, when  your  Excellency  must  meet  your  heathen  subjects  before 
God's  tribunal,  Ave  entreat  you  not  to  hinder  us  from  preaching  to  them  that 
gospel,  which  is  able  to  prepare  them  as  well  as  you  for  that  awful  day. 

''By  all  the  dread  of  being  found  on  the  catalogue  of  those  who  persecute 
the  cluirch  of  God,  and  resist  the  salvation  of  men,  we  entreat  your  Excellen- 
cy not  to  oppose  the  prayers  and  etlbrts  of  the  church,  by  sending  back  those 
whom  the  church  has  sent  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  preach  his  gospel 
among  the  heathen ;  and  we  earnestly  beseech  Almighty  God  to  prevent  such 
an  act;  and  now  and  ever  to  guide  your  Excellency  in  that  way,  which  shah  be 
most  pleasing  in  his  sight. 

'■But  should  j^our  Excellency  finally  disregard  the  considerations  we  have 
presented;  should  we  be  compelled  to  leave  this  land,  we  can  only  say,  Adieu, 
till  we  meet  you,  face  to  face,  at  God's  tribunal. 

"  We  have  the  honor  to  be.  Right  Honorable  Sir,  your  Excellency's  most 
obedient  and  most  humble  servants,  Gordon  Hall, 

"  Bombay,  Dec.  20, 1813.  Samuel  Nott." 

The  next  day,  the  missionaries  were  informed  that  the  Governor 
had  submitted  their  letter  to  his  council ;  and  the  result  was,  that,  as  no 
official  communication  had  been  received  from  the  supreme  government 
since  the  19th  of  November,  it  was  supposed  that  some  delay  had  been 
occasioned ;  and  that  the  missionaries  should  be  allowed  to  remain  till 
the  expected  instructions  concerning  them  should  arrive.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  Dec.  22,  they  received  an  official  note  from  the  Secretary  to 
government,  informing  them  of  this  decision. 


46  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  BOARD.  [1814. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

1814. — Increase  of  the  Missionary  spirit. — Annual  Meeting  at  New  Haven. — 
The  Delawares  request  Missionaries. — New  Charter  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany.— Correspondence  with  Mr.  Wilberforce  and  others. — The  case  of  Hall 
and  Nott  comes  before  the  Court  of  Directors. — Mr.  Grant's  Argument. — In- 
dia opened  to  Missions. — Sketch  of  the  Country  and  its  Inhabitants. — The 
Missionaries  commence  operations. — Mr.  Newell  joins  them. 

The  interest  in  foreign  missions  continued  to  extend  and  increase 
among  the  American  churches.  The  appendix  to  the  annual  report 
mentions  59  societies  which  had  been  formed  to  aid  the  operations  of  the 
Board,  and  18  other  societies— in  all,  77, — which  had  contributed  to  its 
funds.  The  donations  received  within  the  year  ending  August  31,  were 
more  than  $12,000.  The  payments  from  the  treasury  had  been  a  little 
more  than  $7,000.  There  was  a  balance  of  more  than  $  13,000  on  hand. 
The  channels  which  the  Board  had  been  able  to  provide,  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  receive  the  current  of  liberality  which  demanded  an  outlet  into 
the  heathen  world. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  New  Haven  on  the 
15th  and  16th  of  September.  The  Auditor  chosen  last  year  having  de- 
clined, Mr.  Chester  Adams  was  chosen.  No  other  change  was  made  in 
the  officers  of  the  Board. 

The  Hon.  Elias  Boudinot  communicated  a  request  from  the  Dela- 
ware Indians,  that  missionaries  might  be  sent  to  them.  It  was  referred 
to  the  Prudential  Committee ;  and  the  Board  voted  that,  in  their  opinion, 
"independent  and  unevangelized  tribes  of  Indians,  occupying  their  own 
lands,  whether  without  or  within  the  limits  stated  in  the  treaty  of  peace 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  are,  with  other  objects, 
embraced  by  the  act  of  their  incorporation. 

The  act  of  the  British  Parliament,  renewing  the  charter  of  the  East  India 
Company  for  twenty  years,  which  received  the  royal  assent,  July  21, 1813, 
went  into  operation  on  the  10th  of  April,  this  year.  This  act  recognized 
the  duty  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  to  promote  Christianity  in  India. 
It  declared  that  persons  having  that  object  in  view,  should  be  allowed  to 
reside  there ;  subject,  however,  to  the  local  government,  and  acting  in 
conformity  to  the  principles  on  which  the  natives  had  previously  claim- 
ed the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  liable  to  be  sent  away  by  the 
local  government,  for  any  violation  of  those  principles,  or  of  the  laws 
then  in  force  in  India.  Those  desirous  to  avail  themselves  of  this  pri- 
vilege, must  obtain  leave  of  the  Directors  in  London,  or  of  the  Board  of 
Control.  The  first  application  for  leave  for  missionaries  to  go  out, 
under  the  new  charter,  was  refused  by  the  Directors.  Those  who  had 
already  gone  to  India,  were  expressly  excepted  from  the  benefits  of  this 


1814.]  SKETCH   OF  THE    COUNTRY   AND   ITS   INHABITANTS.  47 

act.  The  door,  therefore,  was  but  partially  opened,  and  the  case  of  the 
American  missionaries  was  not  at  all  strengthened  by  the  new  charter. 
Asa  formal  and  authoritative  decision,  authorizing  thein  xe*  r,eu  openej 
to  remain,  was  indispensable  to  their  comfort  and  efficiency, 
their  friends  in  the  United  States  corresponded  with  influential  men  in 
England  on  the  subject.  About  the  last  of  August,  Dr.  Morse  and  Mr. 
Evarts  wrote  to  Mr.  Wilberforce,  who  rephed,  expressing  a  deep  interest 
in  their  success.  The  British  authorities  at  Calcutta  and  Bombay  had 
forwarded  to  the  Court  of  Directors  of  the  East  India  Company,  at  Lon- 
don, their  account  of  all  their  transactions  in  relation  to  the  missionaries, 
including  copies  of  their  correspondence.  The  subject  came  up  before 
the  Directors.  A  resolution  was  under  consideration,  censuring  all  their 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  servants  who  had  abetted  the  missionaries,  and 
requiring  the  removal  of  the  American  missionaries  from  the  Company's 
possessions  in  India.  "As  the  resolution  was  about  to  pass,  the  venerable 
Charles  Grant,  formerly  Chairman  of  the  Court,  presented  a  written  argu- 
ment, laboriously  prepared  by  himself  from  the  documents  then  before  them, 
defending  the  conduct  of  the  missionaries  in  every  step  of  their  proceedings, 
and  proving  that  the  governments  in  India  had  mistaken  the  extent  of  their 
own  authority,  and  had  assumed  powers  which  neither  the  laws  of  the 
British  empire  nor  the  law  of  nations  authorized  them  to  exert.  The  argu- 
ment prevailed.  Despatches  were  sent  to  Bombay,  in  which  the  Directors 
avowed  their  belief  that  the  object  of  the  missionaries  was  simply  the 
promotion  of  religion,  and  authorizing  Sir  Evan  Nepean  to  allow  them 
to  remain.  This  was  the  real  opening  of  continental  India  to  Christian 
missions.  In  what  they  had  contributed  towards  its  accomplishment,  the 
Board  and  its  missionaries  had  done  a  great  work,  and  had  earned  the 
lasting  gratitude  of  India,  and  of  the  Christian  w^orld.  The  decision  was 
not  communicated  to  the  missionaries  till  some  time  in  the  next  year. 

Bombay  is  situated  on  an  island,  near  the  northern  extre-  ti,-  M^.hraua 
raity  of  the  western  coast  of  peninsular  India.  It  is  separated  ''""""^• 
by  narrow  straits  from  the  continent  on  the  east,  and  from  the  larger 
island  of  Salsette  on  the  north.  Nearly  opposite,  on  a  small  island,  are 
the  immense  cavern-temples  of  Elephanta,  and  similar  excavations,  of 
great  extent  and  unknown  antiquity,  are  abundant  in  Salsette.  The 
generally  flat,  but  sometimes  broken  country  on  the  coast,  extending  from 
a  little  north  of  Bombay  about  200  miles  southward,  and  varying  from 
40  to  100  miles  in  width,  is  called  the  Concan.  East  of  this,  the  Ghauts 
mountains  rise  precipitously  about  2,000  feet,  terminating  in  Cape  Co- 
morin,  the  southern  extremity  of  India.  From  the  summit  of  the  Ghauts, 
over  against  the  Concan,  extends  what  appears  to  the  eye  a  vast  table 
land,  diversified  with  hills,  valleys,  and  extensive  plains.  The  course  of 
the  rivers  shows  it  to  be  a  gentle  slope,  of  many  hundred  miles,  towards 
the  east.  Here  is  the  Deccan,  as  that  term  is  used  by  the  latest  writers  ; 
though  formerly  it  had  a  much  greater  extent.  It  is  full  of  ancient  ruins, 
of  different  ages,  some  of  which  are  the  product  of  immense  labor.    The 


48  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1814. 

great  temple  at  Ellora  is  the  summit  of  a  granite  mountain,  hewn  off 
upon  the  outside,  and  dug  out  within,  so  as  to  form  an  immense  temple 
of  one  solid  mass  of  rock,  remaining  in  its  original  position.  It  appears 
to  be  as  old  as  the  pyramids  of  Egypt ;  and  is  thought  by  some  to  be  even  a 
more  wonderful  production  of  misdirected  labor.  This  country  appears 
to  have  been  governed  by  native  princes  till  the  year  1306,  when  it  was 
annexed  by  conquest  to  the  great  Muhammedan  empire  in  India.  It 
continued  under  Muhammedan  rule,  in  various  forms,  till  subdued,  or 
rather  ravaged,  by  the  Mahrattas,  in  the  former  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  Mahrattas  were  originally  an  obscure  tribe,  known  only 
as  pirates  on  the  coast  and  freebooters  on  land.  Sewajee,  who  died  in 
1680,  united  them  under  one  government,  and  made  them  formidable. 
In  about  one  century,  they  plundered  nearly  all  India.  Their  power 
then  rapidly  declined,  and,  in  1817,  the  last  remnant  of  it,  the  territory 
of  the  Rajah  of  Sattara,  was  taken  under  British  protection.  The  pop- 
ulation of  the  Mahratta  states  is  about  12,000,000. 

Hindooism.  ThcSauscrit,  the  sacred  language  of  India,  has  been  a 

dead  language  for  ages.  It  is  found  to  be  the  parent  of  most  of  the  modern 
languages  of  India.  The  Persian,  the  Greek,  the  Latin,  and  the  whole 
class  of  Teutonic  languages,  such  as  the  German  and  the  English,  are  in- 
debted to  it  for  much  that  is  fundamental  in  their  structure  and  mate- 
rials ;  showing  that  all  these  languages  are  comparatively  modern,  and 
that  all  the  nations  who  have  used  them  belong  to  the  same  family  of  na- 
tions. The  Koords,  who  inhabit  the  mountainous  region  between  the 
Tigris,  the  Caspian  Sea  and  Mount  Ararat,  speak  a  kindred  dialect.  Its 
original  seat  is  unknown;  but  may  be  suspected  to  have  been  some  re- 
gion of  central  Asia,  whence  the  ancestors  of  all  these  Indo-Germanic 
nations  separated  soon  after  the  flood. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  most  ancient  theology  of  India 
should  be  nearly  allied  to  the  philosophy  of  Greece.  It  ascribed  to  one 
God,  a  pure  spirit,  infinite  and  eternal,  the  creation,  preservation  and 
government  of  all  things.  But  the  human  understanding,  when  neither 
Scripture  nor  conscience  guides  its  labors,  is  unable  to  comprehend  how 
a  finite  being  can  be  dependent  on  a  Creator  for  its  existence,  and  still 
have  a  real  existence  of  its  own ;  and  out  of  this  difficulty  grow  many 
perplexing  questions  concerning  free  agency,  accountabihty,  and  the  ori- 
gin of  evil.  The  discussion  of  these  topics  led  the  Hindoo  philosophers 
into  pantheism.  They  taught  that  nothing  but  God  really  exists;  that 
matter  is  wholly  an  illusion,  — only  seems  to  exist ;  that  souls  are  ema- 
nations from  the  deity,— parts  of  the  substance  of  God,  which  have  fallen 
into  sin  by  entertaining  the  notion  of  their  own  individual  existence. 
Hence  it  taught  its  votaries  to  withdraw  from  the  business,  pleasures 
and  connexions  of  life ;  to  mortify  the  body  by  austerities ;  and,  by  con- 
tinual and  intense  meditation,  learn  to  feel  that  all  but  God  is  illusion, 
and  that  they  are  one  with  God.  At  the  same  time,  and  often,  perhaps, 
by  the  same  persons,  though  not  very  consistently,  it  was  taught  that  the 
souls  of  men  and  other  animals,  at  death,  transmigrate  to  other  bodies, 


50  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1814. 

perhaps  not  of  the  same  species ;  so  that  the  calamities  to  which  men 
and  beasts  are  exposed  by  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are  born,  are 
punishments  for  sins  committed  in  a  former  body.  This  system  forbade 
the  destruction  of  animal  hfe,  and  allowed  no  sacrifices  but  oiFerings  of 
fruits  and  flowers. 

As  in  Greece,  a  system  of  polytheism  may  have  coexisted  with  this 
philosophy,  and  even  preceded  it;  but  its  greatest  prevalence  was  later. 
The  gods  of  the  Hindoo  mythology  appear  to  have  been  originally  of 
several  classes,  Brama  the  creator,  Vishnoo  the  preserver,  and  Siva  the 
destroyer,  seem  intended  to  represent  the  supreme  God,  considered  in 
three  different  relations  to  his  works.  Many  of  the  Hindoo  gods  are 
different  avatars,  or  incarnations  of  one  of  these.  Another  class  was 
formed  by  personifying  and  worshipping  the  powers  of  nature;  and 
others  of  them  were  men  deified  after  death.  But  these  classes  are 
mingled  in  inextricable  confusion.  Some  ancient  hero  or  statesman  is 
represented  as  an  incarnation  of  Vishnoo.  The  lingam,  the  obscene 
emblem  of  the  generative  power,  is  also  an  emblem  of  Siva,  and  the 
reasons  for  its  worship  are  explained  by  a  reference  to  a  passage  in  his 
indecent  history.  The  stories  of  their  gods  show  a  bold  and  inventive 
fancy,  an  insatiable  love  of  the  marvellous,  and  an  utter  want  of  that 
refined  and  elegant  taste,  which  distinguished  the  poets  and  artists  who 
formed  the  Greek  mythology.  The  images  of  their  gods  are  monstrous ; 
many  headed,  and  many  handed ;  with  heads  like  elephants,  or  like 
monkeys;  destitute  of  majesty,  of  beauty  and  of  grace.  Their  histories 
are  full  of  the  most  absurd  and  ridiculous  miracles,  and  of  disgusting 
details  of  the  grossest  sensuality ;  destitute  of  every  trait  that  deserves 
imitation,  or  that  can  command  respect. 

The  present  theology  of  the  Hindoos  is  formed  of  the  confusedly 
mingled  ruins  of  all  these  systems  ;  w^hich,  however  irreconcilable  with 
each  other,  are  all  taught  in  their  sacred  books.  Or  rather,  it  is  any 
part  of  either  or  all  of  them,  which  any  Brahmun  happens  to  remember 
at  the  time,  and  thinks  adapted  to  his  purpose. 

The  practical  character  of  Hindooism  is  sufficiently  definite  and  in- 
telligible. It  is  a  system  which  makes  all  other  classes  subservient  to 
the  Brahmuns.  The  whole  population  is  divided  into  castes,  of  which 
the  Brahmuns,  the  learned  and  sacerdotal  class,  are  the  first ;  having 
sprung,  as  they  affirm,  from  the  mouth  of  Brama ;  while  the  military, 
the  commercial,  and  the  various  laboring  castes,  sprung  from  other  and 
less  honorable  parts.  These  castes  are  hereditary,  and  confine  each  one 
to  the  occupation  of  his  ancestors.  Loss  of  caste,  by  eating  with  a 
foreigner  or  a  person  of  a  lower  class,  or  by  violating  any  of  the  numer- 
ous rules  on  this  subject,  deprives  one  of  occupation  and  social  inter- 
course, and  is  one  of  the  greatest  calamities  possible.  Against  this, 
every  Hindoo  is  obliged  to  guard  daily,  and  many  times  in  a  day.  The 
habit  of  continual  watchfulness  is  formed  in  infancy,  and  continues,  un- 
interrupted, through  life  ;  so  that  the  habit  of  anxiously  preserving  his 
religious  standing  is  interwoven  with  all  the  business  and  all  the  pleas- 


1814.] 


THE   TEN   INCARNATIONS   OF   VISHNU. 


51 


Fish  Avatar. 


Tortoise  Avatar. 


Hog  Avatar. 


Dwarf  Avatar.  Purushoo-Ram  Avatar.  Ram  Avatar. 


Kislinu  Avatar. 


Boodh  Avatar. 


Kulkee  Avatar. 


62  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1814. 

ures  of  life,  and  becomes  fixed  and  inveterate.  Besides  this,  there  are 
numerous  lucky  and  unlucky  days  and  parts  of  days ;  and  the  time 
which  is  auspicious  for  commencing  one  undertaking,  is  inauspicious  for 
another.  There  must  be,  therefore,  a  constant  consulting  of  Brahmuns, 
who  alone  can  tell  when  a  work  may  be  successfully  commenced.  The 
incantations  of  the  Brahmuns,  too,  are  very  often  needed,  to  secure  the 
favorable  intervention  of  the  gods,  or  to  avert  calamities.  One  hundred 
and  forty-five  days  in  every  year  are  stated  festivals,  at  which,  as  well 
as  at  births,  marriages,  deaths,  and  on  many  other  occasions,  Brahmuns 
must  officiate  and  be  feasted.  Thus  the  Hindoo's  religion  meets  him  at 
every  turn,  and  interweaves  itself  with  every  habit  of  thought,  feeling 
and  action  that  he  forms,  and  holds  him  with  the  united  force  of  all  his 
habits  of  every  kind,  and  of  all  the  habits  that  prevail  around  him. 

The  worship  of  the  Hindoo  gods  corresponds  with  their  character : 
absurd,  licentious  and  cruel.  Many  of  them  are  believed  to  be  malig- 
nant spirits,  who  inflict  sufferings  on  men  for  their  own  amusement,  or 
in  revenge  for  some  neglect  of  themselves,  or  of  their  representatives 
the  Brahmuns ;  and  are  worshipped  only  to  avert  their  displeasure. 
Acceptable  worship  must,  of  course,  consist  in  acts  which  the  god  who 
is  worshipped  delights  in.  The  w'orship  of  Hindoo  gods,  therefore, 
must  be  made  up  of  sin  and  folly.  The  images  of  some  of  them  are  set 
round  with  the  most  indecent  representations.  Lascivious  gesticulations 
form  a  part  of  their  worship.  Their  temples  contain  troops  of  priest- 
esses, bound,  by  their  vow  of  marriage  to  the  god,  to  prostitute  them- 
selves to  every  worshipper  who  demands  that  service  of  them,  and 
thoi'oughly  skilled  in  all  seductive  arts.  The  numerous  public  festivals, 
which  otherwise  would  be  an  insupportable  tax  on  the  time  of  the  peo- 
ple, are  i-endei'ed  acceptable  by  being  made  public  licentious  carousals. 
The  Hindoo  gods  are  as  cruel  as  they  are  licentious.  They  are  believed 
to  delight  in  the  painful  austerities  and  voluntary  self-tortures  of  their 
worshippers ;  and  no  other  act  is  so  acceptable  to  them,  as  when  a 
pilgrim  lies  down  before  the  idol's  car,  and  is  crushed  to  death  beneath 
its  ponderous  wheels.  By  pilgrimages,  penances,  the  endless  repetitions 
of  prayers,  and  gifts  to  the  Brahmuns,  not  only  may  atonement  be  made 
for  sin,  but  a  stock  of  merit  may  be  laid  up,  as  a  balance  for  sins  after- 
wards to  be  committed,  and  capable  of  being  sold  for  money,  to  those 
who  have  not  I'ighteousness  enough  of  their  own.  And  these  prayers 
and  penances  are  supposed  not  only  to  move  the  gods  by  way  of  merit, 
but  to  have  an  intrinsic  power  over  them,  so  that  the  devotee  is  able  to 
command  their  services,  willing  or  unwilling,  for  good  or  for  evil,  to 
himself  or  others.  In  this,  Brahminism  is  a  system  of  witchcraft,  as 
that  term  has  been  understood  in  westei'n  Europe  and  the  United  States ; 
a  system,  according  to  which,  cer-emonies  and  incantations  command  the 
services  of  malignant  demons.  The  priest  or  devotee  is  a  sorcerer, 
whom  it  is  deemed  unsafe  to  offend  or  neo;lect. 

The  moral  influence  of  such  a  system  is  what  might  be  expected. 
The  Hindoo's  mind  is  so  constantly  directed  to  ceremonial  observances, 


1814.]  SKETCH    OF   THE    COUNTRY   AND   ITS   INHABITANTS.  53 

that  he  has  little  time  left,  were  he  disposed,  to  think  of  moral  principles. 
Those  observances  are  such  as  illustrate  or  enforce  no  moral  principle 
whatever.  Instead  of  principles,  sanctioned  by  the  conscience  as  true 
and  binding,  and  applicable  to  all  cases  in  the  conduct  of  life,  their  re- 
hgious  ceremonies  teach  and  enforce  only  a  set  of  arbitrary  rules,  devis- 
ed to  guard  the  distinction  of  castes  and  the  power  of  the  priesthood; 
in  some  instances  condemning  innocent,  and  even  commendable  acts,  as 
heinous  crimes ;  and,  in  others,  treating  gross  sins  as  trivial  offences,  or 
leaving  them  wholly  uncensured.  Thus  their  religion  leads  their  minds 
into  inextricable  confusion,  with  respect  to  the  very  principles  of  moral 
rectitude.  Besides  all  this,  the  gods,  whose  favor  is  to  be  obtained  by 
their  worship,  are  vicious  gods,  who  love  and  practise  the  worst  vices  of 
the  worst  of  men,  with  supernatural  aggravations  ;  and  some  parts  of 
their  worship  consists  in  the  unrestrained  indulgence  of  the  most  degrad- 
ing lusts.  The  whole  is  under  the  control  of  that  sacerdotal  order,  for 
whose  gratification  the  whole  was  devised.  The  moral  condition  of 
society  is  what  such  influences  could  not  fail  to  make  it.  There  is  an 
utter  destitution  of  moral  principle.  There  is  some  abstaining  from 
crime  (or  fear  of  the  law ;  and  some  acting  on  the  supposition  that,  in 
particular  instances,  "  honesty"  will  prove  to  be  "  the  best  policy." 
In  some,  the  natural  affections  and  generous  instincts  of  humanity  are 
but  partially  eradicated,  and  occasionally  show  themselves.  But  no 
one  is  kind,  or  faithful,  or  honest, — tells  the  truth,  keeps  his  word, 
practises  any  moral  virtue,  or  abstains  from  any  vice,  on  principle  ;  and 
where  no  one  does  these  things  on  principle,  no  one  does  them  con- 
stantly, and  few  do  them  even  habitually.  The  population  is  thorough- 
ly demoralized  ;  and  vice,  thus  taught  and  practised  for  ages,  has 
produced  both  mental  and  physical  imbecility. 

The  institution  of  castes  not  only  secures  the  power  of  the  priesthood, 
by  making  all  that  is  valued  in  life  dependent  on  religious  observances, 
but,  by  fixing  each  one  immovably  in  the  condition  to  which  he  was 
born,  excludes  all  motives  to  enterprise  and  energy  of  character.  His 
caste,  while  he  retains  it,  secures  to  the  Hindoo  employment  enough  to 
keep  him  from  perishing  with  hunger ;  for  he  has  a  monopoly  of  the 
business  which  his  ancestors  pursued ;  but  it  also  secures  to  others,  as  their 
right,  with  which  he  may  not  interfere,  all  the  duties  and  privileges  of 
every  other  station  and  employment.  He  has  nothing  to  do,  therefore, 
but  to  take  such  employment  and  subsistence  as  his  caste  secures  to  him, 
and  spend  the  rest  of  his  time  in  idleness,  dissipation,  and  religious  ob- 
servances. The  poor,  therefore,  who  are  numerous,  are  condemned  to 
deep  and  unavoidable  poverty  ;  the  rich  are  diminishing  in  numbers 
and  in  wealth  ;  while  the  whole,  together  with  the  comparatively  small 
number  of  IVIuhammedans,  Parsees,  Jews  and  native  Christians,  are 
subject  to  British  power,  and  overawed  by  the  presence  of  British  offi- 
cers and  magistrates. 

Such  is  the  country  and  the  people,  which  the  decision  sute of ihe Minion. 
of  the  Court  of  Directors  opened  to  missionary  labors.     Though  the 


54  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN  BOARD.  [18 15. 

brethren  at  Bombay  were  not  informed  of  that  decision,  they  saw  rea- 
sons to  hope,  more  and  more  confidently,  that  they  should  be  permitted 
to  remain.  They  gave  themselves  with  diligence  to  the  study  of  the 
lano-uages  of  the  country.  For  a  long  time  they  were  required  to  sleep 
in  the  admiralty  house,  to  which  they  had  been  ordered  on  their  return 
from  Cochin.  Here  they  preached,  in  English,  every  Sabbath,  and 
also  at  another  place,  a  short  distance  from  the  town ;  having,  in  Au- 
gust, about  30  hearers  in  all.  Besides  themselves,  one  military  chaplain 
was  all  the  Protestant  clergy  in  the  place.  Before  the  close  of  the 
year,  they  adopted  a  system  of  polity  for  the  regulation  of  their  own 
little  community,  and  had  opened  a  school,  which  they  hoped  would  in 
the  end  "  become  a  boarding  school  of  considerable  importance  to  the 
mission." 

In  January,  Mr.  Newell  received  such  intelligence  as  induced  him 
to  join  his  brethren  in  Bombay.  He  therefore  addressed  a  note  to  Gov. 
Brownrigg,  thanking  him  for  his  protection,  and  requesting  permission 
to  depart  with  testimonials  to  the  Governor  of  Bombay.  The  request 
was  granted,  and,  on  the  28th  of  January,  Mr.  Newell  embarked,  arid 
arrived  at  Bombay,  March  7,  having  visited  Goa  and  Cochin  on  his 
way.  From  this  time  he  resided  in  the  admiralty  house  with  his  breth- 
ren, and  was  identified  with  them  in  the  labors  of  of  the  mission. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


1815.— Annual  Meeting  at  Salem.— Rules  for  Missions  adopted.— The  Norris 
Legacy.— Commencement  of  Mahratta  preaching  at  Bombay.— Mr.  Nott 
returns. — Ceylon  Mission  commenced. — Obookiah,  Tennooee  and  Hopu. 
— Fund  for  Education. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  Salem,  Mass.,  Septem- 
ber 20, 21  and  22.  No  change  of  officers  was  made,  except  the  addition 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morse  to  the  Prudential  Committee.  The  payments 
from  the  treasury,  during  the  year  ending  August  31,  had  been  $5,007, 
80;  the  amount  received  in  donations,  $10,812,22;  the  amount  on 
hand  was  $  19,833,30  ;  showing  that  the  missionary  spirit  of  the  church- 
es was  considerably  in  advance  of  the  arrangements  for  judicious  ex- 
penditure. About  $9,000  more  was  paid  from  the  treasury  before  the 
end  of  the  year,  for  the  mission  to  Ceylon  and  other  objects. 

At  this  meeting,  votes  were  passed,  providing  that  all  the  earnings 
of  every  missionary,  or  missionary's  wife,  shall  be  considered  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Board,  for  the  objects  of  the  mission,  to  be  regularly  ac- 
counted for  to  the  Prudential  Committee  ;  that,  at  every  station,  the 
salaries  and  earnings  of  all  the  missionaries,  and  all  the  presents  made 
to  them,  or  any  of  them,  shall  constitute  a  common  stock  for  the  sup- 


1815.]  MR.  nott's  return.  55 

port  of  all ;  and  that  a  majority  of  the  missionaries  at  any  station  shall, 
in  their  regular  meetings,  decide  all  questions  that  may  arise  in  regard 
to  their  proceedings  and  conduct,  in  which  the  mission  is  interested. 
The  Committee  were  also  directed  to  send  some  person  to  St.  Louis, 
and  other  places  at  the  west,  to  make  investigations  preparatory  to 
missions  among  the  Indians. 

In  April,  the  Supreme  Court  decided  the  case  concerning  the  lega- 
cy of  Mrs.  Norris,  in  favor  of  the  Board.  The  legacy  was  paid  before 
the  end  of  the  year,  amounting,  after  deducting  all  expenses,  to  $27, 
527,19.  This  was  to  be  put  at  interest  till  it  should  amount  to  30,000, 
the  sum  originally  bequeathed,  and  then  kept  as  a  permanent  fund,  for 
promoting  the  objects  of  the  Board. 

At  Bombay,  the  missionaries  were  permitted  to  con-  Bombay  MUsion. 
tinue  their  labors  without  interruption.  They  had  acquired  such  fa- 
miliarity with  the  Mahratta  language,  that  they  were  able  to  commence 
their  great  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  But  the  reader 
must  not  imagine  that  the  heathen  came  by  hundreds  on  the  Sabbath 
to  hear  them,  and  listened  attentively,  like  a  Christian  congregation,  to 
sermons  half  an  hour  or  an  hour  long.  Instead  of  this,  they  had  no 
stated  congregation  of  heathen  hearers.  They  were  obliged  to  go  to 
the  temples,  the  markets,  and  other  places  of  public  resort,  and  converse 
with  such  as  would  hear  them.  They  also  commenced  translating  short 
passages  of  Scripture  and  religious  tracts  into  the  Mahratta  language. 
These  they  read  to  the  people  as  they  could  find  opportunity,  both  for 
the  sake  of  imparting  religious  truth,  and  of  learning,  from  the  remarks 
of  their  hearers,  wherein  their  translations  needed  correction.  They 
made  such  efforts  as  their  means  allowed  for  the  education  of  heathen 
children,  and  strongly  recommended  this  department  of  labor  to  the 
Board.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  they  learned,  with  gratitude, 
that  they  were  to  be  permitted  to  remain  in  India.  In  a  letter,  dated 
November  29,  they  say : 

"  His  Excellency  Sir.  Evan  Nepean  has  just  personally  communica- 
ted to  us  the  result  of  our  concerns  with  the  government.  After  briefly 
recapitulating  what  had  taken  place,  he  said  that  the  whole  business  had 
been  represented  to  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  that  they  in  reply  had 
stated  that  the  C()mmunications  from  the  Bombay  government  concern- 
ing us,  were  such  as  led  them  to  think  our  object  was  simply  the  pro- 
motion of  religion  ;  and  that,  therefore,  he  (Sir  Evan)  was  at  liberty  to 
allow  us  to  remain,  if  he  chose,  and  that  they  should  acquiesce  in  such 
a  decision.  His  Excellency  added, '  I  can  now  assure  you  thatyou  have  my 
entire  permission  to  remain  here,  so  long  as  you  conduct  yourselves  in 
a  manner  agreeable  to  your  office.  I  shall  feel  no  difficulty  in  allowing 
you  to  go  to  any  part  of  this  Presidency  ;  and  I  heartily  wish  you  suc- 
cess in  your  work.'  " 

But  the  mission  did  not  pass  this  year  without  another  Mr.  Nou-.Retum. 
severe  trial  of  their  faith.  Mr.  Nott,  soon  after  his  arrival,  had  been 
attacked  with  a  disease  of  the  liver,  which,  in  that  country,  often 


56  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1815. 

proves  fatal  to  strangers.  The  attack  was  renewed  from  time  to 
time,  and  his  general  health  continued  to  decline.  His  physicians  gave 
a  decided  opinion  "  that  the  climate  of  the  East  Indies  was  very  unfa- 
vorable to  his  constitution,  and  that  he  could  not  remain  in  the  country 
without  endangering  his  life ;  and  that  he  should  return  to  his  native 
country,  or  to  Europe,  as  the  most  effectual  means  of  recovering  his 
health."  In  compliance  with  this  advice,  he  embarked,  in  the  autumn, 
for  England,  and  arrived  in  the  United  States  the  next  summer,  with 
health  improved,  but  not  wholly  restored,  by  the  voyage. 
,         Ceylon  Mission.  Thc  mlssion  to  Ceylon  was  commenced  this  year.    On 

s  the  21st  of  June,  the  Rev.  James  Richards,  Daniel  Poor,  Horatio  Bard- 
well,  Benjamin  C.  Meigs,  Edward  Warren,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills,  were  or- 
dained at  Newburyport.  Mr.  Meigs  and  Mr.  Warren  had  been  designa- 
ted to  go  on  an  exploring  tour  among  the  Indians  of  this  continent ;  but 
the  plan  was  abandoned  on  account  of  the  ill  health  of  Mr.  Warren,  which 
required  a  warmer  climate.  On  the  23d  of  October,  all,  except  Mr.  Mills, 
sailed  from  Newburyport,  in  the  brig  Dryad.  Though  their  instructions 
gave  them  some  discretionary  power  in  respect  to  their  location,  yet  it  was 
expected  that  the  greater  part  of  them  would  establish  a  mission  in  the 
northern  part  of  Ceylon,  and  that  the  remainder  vv^ould  join  the  mission 
at  Bombay.  The  exercises,  both  at  their  ordination  and  embarkation, 
were  attended  by  numerous  and  deeply  interested  assemblies,  and 
served  to  increase  the  missionary  spirit  in  the  churches. 

Another  small  beginning  of  a  great  work  was  the  reception  of  three 
youths  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Board. 
obookiah.  Henry  Obookiah  was  born  in  the  island  of  Hawaii,  about 

the  year  1795.  In  his  childhood,  during  a  civil  war,  both  his  parents 
were  slain  before  his  eyes.  On  witnessing  their  death,  he  took  his  in- 
fant brother  upon  his  back,  and  attempted  to  escape.  He  was  pursued 
and  overtaken,  his  brother  was  pierced  through  with  a  spear,  and  he 
was  made  a  prisoner,  and  taken  to  the  home  of  the  man  who  killed  his  pa- 
rents. Here  he  resided  till  his  uncle,  the  high  priest  of  the  island,  found 
him  and  took  him  home.  Though  kindly  treated  by  his  uncle,  he  was 
unhappy.  "  While  I  was  playing  with  other  children,"  he  says,  "  after 
we  had  made  an  end  of  playing,  they  returned  to  their  parents,  but  I 
returned  into  tears ;  for  I  have  no  home,  neither  father  nor  mother.  I 
thought  of  nothing  more  but  want  of  father  and  mother,  and  to  cry  day 
and  night."  He  began  to  think  of  leaving  his  native  island  for  some 
other  part  of  the  world  ;  and,  in  1809,  gladly  embraced  an  opportunity 
to  come  to  the  United  States  with  Capt.  Brintnal,  of  New  Haven,  Ct. 
At  New  Haven,  he  resided  for  a  while  in  the  family  of  Capt.  Brintnal. 
He  soon  showed  a  strong  desire  for  instruction.  He  visited  the  house 
of  God  on  the  Sabbath.  He  lingered  about  the  College  buildings, 
hoping  to  catch  something  which  would  gratify  his  thirst  for  knowledge  ; 
and  when  he  found  that  the  attempt  was  vain,  and  thought  of  the  many 
students  there,  who  were  enriching  their  minds  with  treasures  that  were 
inaccessible  to  him,  he  sat  down  on  the  threshold  and  wept.  Here  he 
was  found  by  the  Rev.  Edwin  W.  Dwight,  a  resident  graduate,  who 


1815.]  THE   YOUTHS   OF  HAWAH.  57 

received  him  as  a  pupil,  and  spared  no  pains  in  his  instruction.  IMr. 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  who  visited  New  Haven  soon  after  this  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  the  spirit  of  missions,  soon  became  acquainted  with  him. 
Henry  told  Mr.  Mills  that  the  people  in  Hawaii  are  "  very  bad  ;  they 
pray  to  gods  made  of  wood  ;"  and  he  expressed  his  desire  to  "  learn  to 
read  this  Bible,  and  go  back  there,  and  tell  them  to  pray  to  God  up  in 
heaven."  Nothing  could  be  more  in  harmony  with  the  feelings  of 
Mills.  In  writing  to  his  friend,  Gordon  Hall,  he  exclaims :  "  What  does 
this  mean?  Brother  Hall,  do  you  understand  it?  Shall  he  be  sent 
back  unsupported,  to  attempt  to  reclaim  his  countrymen  ?  Shall  we  not 
rather  consider  these  southern  islands  a  proper  place  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  mission  ?"  He  took  Henry  to  his  father's  house,  at  Torrino-- 
ford,  where  he  rapidly  improved,  both  in  religious  and  secular  know- 
ledge. He  afterwards  removed  to  Andover  with  Mr.  Mills,  where  he 
spent  two  years.  Afterwards,  by  invitation  of  James  Morris,  Esq.,  he 
spent  the  winter  of  1813  at  the  Grammar  School  at  Litchfield.  In  the 
fall  of  1814,  by  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  placed  himself  under  the 
care  of  the  North  Consociation  of  Litchfield  Co.,  Ct.,  for  the  direction 
of  his  studies.  The  vote,  receiving  him  under  the  patronage  of  the 
Board,  was  passed  November  15,  1815. 

William  Tennooee,  with  his  brother  and  four  other  na-  o.i,er  Hawaiian 
tives,  came  to  Boston  by  an  American  vessel,  about  the  ^°"""' 
year  1809.  The  four  soon  returned  to  their  native  country  ;  and  his 
brother  dying  soon  after,  he  was  left  alone.  Solitary  and  depressed  in 
spirits,  the  war  preventing  a  return  to  his  home,  he  enlisted  on  board  a 
privateer,  and  escaped  unhurt  in  several  engagements.  In  1813,  he 
went  to  Providence,  to  Hartford,  and  finally,  to  New  Haven,  where  he 
made  himself  useful  in  several  public  houses,  and  at  last  entered  a  bar- 
ber's shop  as  an  apprentice.  He  was  deplorably  ignorant  of  religion, 
and  in  literature  he  knew  only  the  alphabet.  Several  gentlemen,  to 
whom  his  history  became  known,  interested  themselves  in  procuring  for 
him  the  means  of  education,  in  which  he  soon  made  respectable  pro- 
gress. He  showed  no  particular  interest  concerning  religion,  till  the 
revival  in  Yale  College  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  this  year :  during 
which,  he  gave  satisfactory  evidence  of  his  conversion. 

Thomas  Hopu  came  to  this  country  with  Obookiah ;  but  followed  a 
sailor's  life,  which  he  loved,  till  the  war.  He  then  lived  as  a  servant  in 
several  families.  In  September,  1815,  he  visited  New  Haven,  intend- 
ing to  return  to  his  native  island  with  Capt.  Brintnal;  but,  after  some 
solicitation,  he  consented  to  stay  and  apply  himself  to  study  He  was 
sent  to  reside  with  Obookiah  and  Tennooee.  In  a  few  weeks,  he  showed 
deep  conviction  of  sin,  and  anxiety  for  his  future  well-being.  He  soon 
indulged  hope  in  pardoning  mercy,  and  declared  that  he  hated  his  sins. 
In  answer  to  a  question,  he  declared  that  he  loved  Christ,  and  added, 
"  I  want  to  serve  him, — I  want  my  poor  countrymen  to  know  about 
Christ." 

Such  were  the  three  Sandwich  Island  youths  who  were  now  taken 


58  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1816. 

under  the  patronage  of  the  Board.  They,  for  the  present,  pursued  their 
studies  under  the  immediate  direction  of  respectable  clergymen,  at  the 
expense  of  the  Board. 

At  their  last  meeting  this  year,  which  was  held  December  26,  the 
Committee  voted  to  institute  "  a  Fund  for  the  purpose,  especially,  of 
educating  heathen  children  and  youth." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


1816. — Annual  Meeting  at  Hartford. — Foreign  Mission  School  instituted. — 
Mr.  Bardwell  joins  the  Mission  at  Bombay. — Missionaries  to  Ceylon  arrive 
at  Colunibo. — Proceedings  there. — They  obtain  permission,  and  remove  to 
Jaffna. — Sketch  of  Ceylon. — Buildings  atBatticotta  and  Tilhpally.— Gabriel 
Tissera  and  Francis  Malleappa. — They  commence  preaching  and  schools. 
— Mr.  Kingsbury's  intercourse  with  the  government  at  Washington. — He 
visits  the  Cherokees,  and  is  invited  to  estabUsh  a  mission  among  them. 

The  Board  held  its  seventh  annual  meeting  at  Hartford,  September 
18,  19  and  20.     The  officers  of  the  last  year  were  re-elected. 

At  this  meeting,  the  incipient  measures  were  adopted  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Foreign  Mission  School.  The  subject 
had  been  discussed  in  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  friendly  to  the  object,  con- 
vened at  New  Haven  during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Association  in 
June,  and  was  brought  before  the  Board  by  a  committee  from  that  meeting. 
The  Board  appointed  the  Hon.  John  Treadvvell,  Rev.  Dr.  Dwight,  James 
Morris,  Esq.,  Rev.  Dr.  Chapin,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  Lyman  Beecher,  Charles 
Prentice  and  Joseph  Harvey,  agents  to  carry  the  plan  into  execution.  The 
agents,  in  Octobei-,  agreed  upon  a  constitution  and  plan  of  procedure, 
nominated  a  principal,  and  appointed  a  visiting  committee  to  make  con- 
tracts. The  people  in  Cornwall,  Ct.,  gave  an  academy  building,  40 
feet  by  20,  and  other  property,  amounting  in  all  to  about  $1,200.  The 
committee  of  the  agents  purchased  a  house  for  the  principal,  another 
for  a  boarding  house,  and  about  85  acres  of  land.  Preparations  could 
not  be  fully  made  for  organizing  the  school,  till  some  time  in  the  next 

Bombay  Mu,ion.  Thc  missiouaries  at  Bombay  pursued  their  labors  without 

interruption.  As  their  acquaintance  with  the  language  and  the  natives  in- 
creased, they  were  able  to  proclaim  the  truths  of  the  gospel  more  exten- 
sively. Several  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  translated,  and  some 
tracts  prepared  in  the  Mahratta  language.  On  the  1st  of  November,  Mr. 
Bardwell,  with  his  wife,  arrived  from  Columbo.  Mr.  Bardwell,  rather 
than  any  other  of  the  brethren  at  Ceylon,  had  been  chosen  to  join  this 
mission,  in  conformity  with  the  expectations  of  the  Prudential  Commit- 
tee, on  account  of  his  acquaintance  with  the  art  of  printing.  Early  in 
December,  a  press  and  types  were  received.     They  were  purchased  in 


1816.]  CEYLON   MISSION   ARRIVES.      CHURCH   FORMED.  59 

Calcutta,  through  the  kind  assistance  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomason.  De- 
cember 31,  their  journal  states  that  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
nearly  300  heathen  boys  had  been  receiving  instruction  under  their 
care.  On  the  19th  of  December,  Mr.  Hall  was  married  to  Miss  Mar- 
garet Lewis,  an  English  lady,  who,  by  her  long  residence  in  the  coun- 
try, her  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  Hindostanee  language,  and  with 
the  native  character,  as  well  as  by  her  talents,  knowledge  and  piety, 
was  thought  well  qualified  to  be  a  useful  member  of  the  mission. 

Nothing  but  prosperity  attended  the  mission  to  Ceylon.  reyio,,  Mission 
During  their  voyage,  two  of  the  crew  of  the  Dryad  gave 
evidence  of  conversion.  On  the  22d  of  March,  they  arrived  at  Colum- 
bo,  the  seat  of  government  for  Ceylon,  where,  they  were  told,  no  Amer- 
ican ship  had  been  for  six  years.  Two  of  the  brethren  landed,  and  were 
introduced  to  Rev.  Messrs.  Chater  and  Norton,  English  missionaries, 
and  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Mr.  Twisleton,  Colonial  Chaplain.  Mr.  Twis- 
leton  immediately  sent  an  express,  with  their  letter  of  introduction,  to 
the  Governor,  and  ordered  a  constable  to  render  them  all  desirable  as- 
sistance in  procuring  a  house.  The  next  morning,  a  sermon  was  preach- 
ed on  board,  on  the  occasion  of  leaving  the  Dryad.  They  received  a 
note  from  the  Governor,  permitting  them  to  land  their  baggage,  without 
inspection,  at  the  custom  house,  and  to  reside  on  the  island  a  longer  or 
shorter  time,  as  they  pleased.  On  the  25th,  they  took  possession  of  a 
house  which  Mr.  Norton  had  hired  for  himself,  but  cheerfully  gave  up 
for  their  accommodation. 

As  the  seat  of  this  mission,  Mr.  Newell  had  recommended  the  dis- 
trict of  Jaffna,  in  the  northern  part  of  Ceylon.  The  Prudential  Com- 
mittee had  expressed  a  favorable  opinion  of  that  location  in  their  instruc- 
tions. It  was  now  recommended  to  them  by  Gov.  Brownrigg,  Chief 
Justice  Sir  Alexander  Johnstone,  Rev.  Messrs.  Twisleton,  Chater  and 
Norton,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palm,  who,  for  special  reasons,  had  just  withdrawn 
from  missionary  labors  in  that  region,  and  the  Rev.  Chri-stian  David,  a 
native,  who  had  just  arrived  from  Jaffna,  to  take  charge,  for  a  short  time, 
of  a  Malabar  congregation  at  Columbo.  On  account  of  the  monsoon, 
however,  it  was  impossible  to  visit  Jaffna  for  some  months.  The  breth- 
ren, therefore,  made  arrangements  for  preaching  to  English  residents, 
to  natives  by  an  interpreter,  for  teaching  schools,  and  pursuing  their 
own  studies.  In  these  employments  they  spent  their  time  happily  and 
usefully,  during  their  detention  at  Columbo. 

On  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath,  April  21,  the  members  church  rrrmed. 
of  the  mission  entered  into  covenant  with  God  and  with  each  other,  as 
a  Christian  church.  In  the  afternoon,  they  celebrated  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per in  Mr.  Chafer's  chapel.  The  Wesleyan  and  Episcopal  missionaries 
united  with  them.  Mr.  Chater,  being  a  Baptist  missionary,  with  his 
congregation  of  40  or  50,  were  spectators.  The  next  Saturday,  they 
sent  a  letter  to  Mr.  Chafer's  church,  requesting  the  privilege  of  com- 
muning with  them,  and  assigning  their  reasons.  On  Wednesday,  they 
received  a  favorable  answer,  that  church  having  voted  to  admit  credi- 


60  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1816. 

ble  believers  of  other  churches  to  occasional  communion.  An  arrange- 
ment was  made,  for  the  two  churches  to  commune  with  each  other  alter- 
nately. May  6,  Mr.  Twisleton  and  Christian  David  introduced  thirteen 
Cingalese  and  four  Malabar  students,  who  understood  English,  to  be  in- 
structed in  theology  and  geography.  Their  progress  was  quite  commenda- 
ble. June  14,  an  answer  to  their  petition  was  received  from  the  govern- 
ment, granting  them  permission  to  settle  in  Jaffna,  instruct  youth,  preach 
the  gospel,  establish  a  press,  and  do  whatever  should  be  necessary  to  for- 
ward the  object  of  the  mission.  It  was  resolved  that  Messrs.  Warren, 
Richards,  Meigs,  and  Poor,  should  establish  themselves  there  as  soon  as 
practicable,  leaving  Mr.  Bardwell  to  join  the  mission  at  Bombay.  On 
the  1st  of  July,  Mr.  Warren  set  out  for  Jaffna  by  land,  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  reception  of  his  brethren. 

Ariraissionstoihe  Ou  thc  20th  of  tliis  month,  three  soldiers,  with  w^hom 

the  brethren  had  conversed  much  on  the  subject,  were  re- 
ceived as  candidates  for  admission  to  the  church.  Two  were  afterwards 
admitted.  On  the  evening  of  the  22d,  Mr.  Seirs,  a  member  of  Mr.  Cha- 
ter's  church,  was  ordained.  Mr.  Meigs  preached,  Mr.  Chater  gave  the 
charge,  and  Mr.  Poor  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  About  the  last  of 
September,  having  dismissed  their  pupils,  taken  leave  of  their  friends, 
and  made  all  necessary  arrangements,  the  four  families  departed  for 
Jaffna,  leaving  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bardwell  to  wait  for  a  passage  to  Bom- 
bay. Taking  different  conveyances,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Poor  arrived  at  Jaff- 
napatam,  September  26,  and  the  others  on  the  2d  of  October. 
skeicii  of  Ceylon.  Ccylou,  thc  Taprobane  of  the  ancients,  is  about  300 

miles  long,  and  170  wide;  containing,  in  1831,  a  population  of 
950,917,  of  whom  20,656  were  slaves.  A  few  English,  and  the 
descendants  of  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch,  amounted  to  6,664.  There 
were  also  a  few  thousand  Mussulmans,  or,  as  they  are  called,  Moor- 
men. The  great  mass  of  the  population  are  Cingalese  in  the  interior 
and  southern  parts,  and  the  Tamul  people  in  the  north  and  east.  This 
island  was  the  extreme  limit  of  the  voyage  of  Nearchus,  with  the  fleet 
that  Alexander  the  Great  sent  down  the  Indus.  From  that  time,  and 
even  earlier,  it  was  celebrated  for  the  size  and  warlike  qualities  of  its 
elephants,  the  abundance  and  excellence  of  its  pearls  and  precious 
stones,  and  other  commodities,  except  cinnamon,  which  have  since  con- 
stituted its  exports.  Its  ancient  commerce  appears  to  have  been  in  its 
glory  in  the  sixth  century,  when  such  numbers  of  Christian  merchants 
from  Persia  resided  there,  that  a  church  was  built  for  their  accommoda- 
tion. During  the  dark  ages,  the  knowledge  of  Ceylon  was  lost  to  Eu- 
rope. In  1505,  the  Portuguese,  from  Goa,  again  discovered  the  island. 
In  1518,  they  erected  a  fort;  and  in  process  of  time,  partly  by  negotia- 
tion and  partly  by  force,  gained  extensive  possessions  on  the  coast.  In 
1602,  the  Dutch  Admiral,  Spilbergen,  arrived  with  a  fleet,  and  finally 
succeeded  in  forming  a  treaty  with  the  native  emperor.  In  about  half 
a  century  from  that  time,  all  the  Portuguese  possessions  had  come  under 
the  power  of  the  Dutch.     The  English  occupied  Trincomalee  for  a 

/ 


1816.]  SKETCH   OF   CEYLON.  61 

short  time  in  1782.  In  1796,  they  completed  the  conquest  of  all  those 
parts  of  the  island  which  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch  had  occupied.  In 
1803,  they  marched  for  the  first  time  to  Kandy,  the  seat  of  the  native 
government ;  and,  after  several  wars  and  treaties,  they  annihilated  the 
native  government  and  took  possession  of  the  whole  island  in  1815. 

Of  "the  first  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Ceylon,  we  find  no 
account.  When  Francis  Xavier,  the  Jesuit  "  Apostle  of  India,"  first 
visited  the  island,  it  is  said  that  he  found  there  20,000  native  Christians. 
They  were  probably  of  the  Syrian  church,  like  those  on  the  Malabar 
coast,  claiming  an  ecclesiastical  descent  from  the  Apostle  Thomas,  who 
is  said  to  have  preached  the  gospel  in  India.  The  Portuguese  assert 
that  they  were  little  better  than  heathen,  and  by  no  means  so  good 
Christians  as  Xavier's  converts.  He  is  said  to  have  converted  40,000 
in  a  short  time ;  but  as  his  conversions  were  little  more  than  baptism 
and  learning  a  few  Popish  forms,  their  effect  was  neither  very  great  nor 
very  permanent.  The  Portuguese,  while  in  power,  demolished  many 
heathen  temples,  built  churches,  bestowed  peculiar  privileges  on  Chris- 
tians, and  by  various  means  induced  many  natives  to  receive  baptism. 
The  Dutch,  when  they  became  masters  of  the  same  territories,  endea- 
vored to  establish  Protestantism.  They  forbade  the  rebuilding  of  hea- 
then temples,  allowed  no  public  idolatrous  ceremonies,  and  made  the 
profession  of  Christianity  a  necessary  qualification  for  all  important 
offices.  They  repaired  the  churches  built  by  the  Portuguese,  and  built 
others.  They  divided  the  country  into  parishes,  and  introduced  pastors 
and  schools.  But  commerce  was  the  main  object  on  which  their  hearts 
were  set.  Their  pastors  were  too  few,  and  their  number  decreased. 
The  number  of  even  nominal  Christians  diminished,  and  many  of  the 
churches  went  to  decay.  When  the  English  took  possession,  in  1796, 
they  allowed  the  free  exercise  of  all  religions.  The  natives  now  rebuilt 
their  heathen  temples,  and  resumed  the  public  celebration  of  idolatrous 
rites.  The  treaty  which  concluded  the  war  of  1815,  and  subjected  the 
whole  island  to  British  rule,  provided  that  the  ancient  religion  should 
be  regarded  as  inviolable,  and  that  its  rites,  ministers,  and  places  of  wor- 
ship, should  be  maintained  and  protected.  Christianity,  of  any  kind, 
among  the  natives,  was  then  nearly  extinct. 

The  district  of  JalTna  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  ^'^''^ District. 
part  of  Ceylon.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  cluster  of  islands  at  its  northern 
extremity,  separated  from  each  other  by  narrow  creeks,  and  rising  but 
little  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  district  is  40  miles  long  by  15 
broad.  Its  population  is  stated  at  147,671;  of  Avhom  650  are  whites. 
Nearly  all  the  whites  are  descendants  of  the  Dutch  and  Portuguese.  The 
Moormen  are  few,  and  principally  confined  to  Jaffhapatam,  the  princi- 
pal town.  Among  the  natives,  several  thousands  are  Roman  Catholics, 
and  a  few  profess  to  be  Protestants.  The  natives,  here,  are  of  the  Ta- 
mul  race,  and  of  the  same  language  and  religion  with  several  millions  of 
Tamul  people  on  the  neighboring  continent. 

In  this  district,  the  government  had  granted  to  the     wi»ion  premiMt 


1816.]  BUILDINGS  AT   BATTICOTTA   AND   TILLIPALLY.  63 

mission  the  use  of  some  old  church  buildings,  which  were  thouo-ht 
capable  of  being  repaired.  On  -visiting  them,  the  brethren  found 
at  Batticotta,  near  the  village,  in  sight  of  the  sea,  and  in  the  midst 
of  rice  grounds,  above  which  it  was  elevated  a  few  feet,  the  remains 
of  what  was  thought  the  finest  church  in  the  district.  It  was  built 
by  the  Portuguese,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  had  been  repaired  by 
the  Dutch  in  1678.  Its  roof  was  gone  ;  Ijut  its  walls  of  coral,  four 
feet  thick,  were  standing,  and  inclosed  a  space  163  feet  long  and  57  wide. 
Along  the  centre  ran  two  rows  of  pillars,  ten  in  a  row,  and  each  ten 
feet  in  circumference,  supporting  arches  intended  to  support  the  roof. 
Two  thirds  of  the  interior  was  large  enough  for  a  place  of  worship,  and 
the  remainder  might  be  used  for  school  rooms,  or  other  purposes  connect- 
ed with  the  mission.  There  were  also  the  walls  of  a  dwelling  house 
more  than  100  feet  long,  and  of  five  small  out  buildings,  all  without 
roofs  or  windows.  In  the  rear  of  all  was  a  garden,  of  nearly  two  acres, 
inclosed  with  a  high  wall  of  coral,  and  containing  three  wells  for  wa- 
tering it  in  time  of  drought.  On  the  premises  were  62  trees,  29  of 
which  w-ere  fruitful  palmyras,  capable  of  supporting  a  native  family. 
This  was  the  station  chosen  for  Messrs.  Richards  and  Meio-s.  The 
other  station  chosen  was  at  Tillipally,  about  eight  miles  distant.  The 
buildings  here  were  also  of  coral,  but  smaller  and  in  better  preservation ; 
though  here  they  had  no  roofs,  doors  or  windows.  The  country  around 
is  filled  with  native  villages,  grain-fields,  and  little  groves  of  valuable  trees. 

The  buildings  at  Tillipally  were  put  in  such  order  that  Messrs.  War- 
ren and  Poor  moved  into  them  on  the  15th  of  October.  As  those  at 
Batticotta  could  not  be  repaired  before  the  rainy  season,  the  other  bre- 
thren hired  a  house  in  JafFnapatam.  Here  they  commenced  the  study 
of  the  language,  having  hired,  as  an  instructer  and  interpreter,  Gabriel 
Tissera,  a  native  of  the  Chitty  or  mercantile  caste.  He  was  bred  a  Ro- 
man Catholic;  but  was  candid,  desirous  of  instruction,  and  of  more  than 
usual  talents. 

At  Tillipally,  Francis  Malleappa  was  engaged  as  inter-  Preaching  ,,nd 
preter.  He  was  the  son  of  a  native  clergyman,  preparino-  S'^'""''*- 
for  the  ministry,  and  giving  some  evidence  of  piety.  On  the  Sabbath, 
October  20,  about  30  natives  came  to  hear  what  the  missionaries  had 
to  say.  The  next  Sabbath,  about  60  attended  worship  with  them,  and 
expressed  a  desire  for  preaching  every  week.  On  the  next  Wednes- 
day, 10  or  12  boys,  who  had  been  pupils  of  Mr.  Palm,  requested  in- 
struction, and  began  to  learn  the  English  alphabet.  Early  in  Decem- 
ber, teachers  were  engaged  to  open  schools,  under  the  superintendence 
of  the  missionaries,  at  Mallagum  and  Tillipally.  In  all  this,  they  found 
that  the  labors  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palm  had  done  much  to  prep'are  the 
way  for  them;  and  they  received  important  aid  from  the  kindness  of  J. 
N.  Mooyart,  Esq.,  an  English  gentleman  at  Jaffnapatam. 

During  this  year,  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Kingsbury  made  his  ch.roi,e,  MiMi„n. 
first  visit  to  the  Cherokee  country.  He  had  already  had ''"^"'"°'*' """"""• 
an  interview  with  the  heads  of  the  departments  of  government  at 
Washington,  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  by  order  of  the  President,  had 


64  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1816. 

officially  informed  him,  that,  "  In  the  first  instance,  the  Agent  (for  In- 
dian affairs)  will  be  directed  to  erect  a  comfortable  school-house,  and 
another  for  the  teacher  and  such  as  may  board  with  him,  in  such  part 
of  the  nation  as  will  be  selected  for  the  purpose.  He  will  also  be  direct- 
ed to  furnish  two  ploughs,  six  hoes,  and  as  many  axes,  for  the  purpose 
of  introducing  the  art  of  cultivation  among  the  pupils.  Whenever  he 
is  informed  that  female  children  are  received,  and  brought  into  the 
school,  and  that  a  female  teacher  has  been  engaged,  capable  of  teach- 
ing them  to  spin,  weave  and  sew,  a  loom  and  half  a  dozen  spinning 
wheels  and  as  many  pair  of  cards  will  be  furnished.  He  will  be  direct- 
ed, from  time  to  time,  to  cause  other  school-houses  to  be  erected,  as 
they  shall  become  necessary,  and  as  the  expectation  of  ultimate  success 
shall  justify  the  expenditure.  The  houses  thus  erected,  and  the  imple- 
ments of  husbandry  and  of  the  mechanical  arts  which  shall  be  furnish- 
ed, will  remain  public  property,  to  be  occupied  and  employed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  nation.  If  the  persons  who  are  about  to  engage  in  this 
enterprise,  should  abandon  it,  the  buildings  and  utensils  which  shall 
have  been  furnished,  may  be  occupied  by  any  other  teachers  of  good 
moral  character.  The  only  return  which  is  expected  by  the  President, 
is  an  annual  report  of  the  state  of  the  school,  its  progress,  and  its  fu- 
ture prospects." 

At  Washington,  Mr.  Kingsbury  had  opportunity  of  conversing  re- 
peatedly with  Col.  Meigs,  Agent  for  the  Cherokees,  and  with  a  chief 
and  two  other  men  of  the  tribe,  then  at  the  city.  "  The  Agent,"  he 
says,  "  may  be  relied  upon,  as  a  firm  and  substantial  friend  to  the  object 
of  the  mission.  The  Indians  also  appeared  to  be  pleased  with  the  de- 
sign, and  said  it  would  be  highly  gratifying  to  the  nation  ;  that  they  had 
long  wished  to  have  schools  established,  and  had  thought  of  devoting  a 
part  of  their  annuity  to  the  object,  but  in  consequence  of  some  embar- 
rassments had  felt  themselves  unable." 

After  spending  some  months  in  Tennessee,  under  a  temporary  com- 
mission from  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society,  Mr.  Kingsbury  re- 
paired to  the  Cherokee  country.  September  28,  he  left  the  Cherokee 
Agency,  in  company  with  Col.  Meigs  and  two  Indians,  to  attend  a  grand 
council,  or  "  talk,"  about  to  be  held  by  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks,  for 
the  purpose  of  settling  more  definitely  the  boundaries  between  the  two 
tribes.  The  business  having  been  happily  concluded,  Maj.  Gen.  An- 
drew Jackson,  who  had  attended  the  council  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States'  government,  rose  and  introduced  the  subject  of  schools,  for  the 
instruction  of  their  children  and  youth.  Mr.  Kingsbury  then  made  known 
the  plans  of  the  Board.  The  chiefs  replied  : — "You  have  appeared  in 
cur  full  council.  We  have  listened  to  what  you  have  said,  and  under- 
stand it.  We  are  glad  to  see  you.  We  wish  to  have  the  schools  estab- 
lished, and  hope  they  will  be  of  great  advantage  to  the  nation."  They 
then  appointed  one  of  their  >#wn  number  to  go  with  Mr.  Kingsbury  and 
select  a  place  for  a  school.  Mr.  Kingsbury  returned  to  Tennessee,  to 
purchase  provisions  and  make  other  necessary  arrangements  for  com- 
mencing the  work  without  delay. 


1817.]  COMMENCEMENT   OF   PRINTING   AT   BOMBAY.  65 


CHAPTER   IX. 

1817. — Anual Meeting  at  Northampton. — Foreign  Mission  School  commenced. 
— Commencement  of  printing  at  Bombay. — Sickness  of  Warren  and  Rich- 
ards, in  Ceylon. — Hospital  and  boarding  school  commenced. — Supycn. 
—  Cherokee  Mission  commenced. — Previous  labors  of  the  Moravians  and 
Dr.  Blackburn. — Census  of  the  Cherokees. — Visit  of  Mr.  Cornelius. — Con- 
versions.— Reinforcement. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Northampton,  September  17, 18  and 
19.  As  the  auditor  declined  re-election,  Mr.  Ashur  Adams  was  elected. 
The  other  officers  were  continued  in  office.  The  donations  to  the  Board 
during  the  year  ending  August  31,  amounted  to  f  27,225,66  ;  the 
payments  from  the  treasury,  to  $20,461,39.  Besides  donations  from 
individuals,  the  funds  of  the  Board  had  been  aided  by  299  societies, 
in  the  Northern,  Middle,  Southern  and  Western  States. 

The  Foreign  Mission  School,  at  Cornwall,  commenced  Fomg,,  Mission 
its  operations  auspiciously.  As  the  Rev.  Joseph  Harvey,  ^''''°°'  ''°"""'""''- 
from  unforeseen  occurrences,  was  induced  to  decline  the  office  of  Princi- 
pal, the  Rev.  Herman  Daggett  was  appointed;  and  as  he  could  not  make 
arrangements  to  take  charge  of  the  school  so  soon,  it  was  put  in  opera- 
tion about  the  1st  of  May,  under  the  instruction  of  Mr.  E.  W.  Dwight, 
— the  man  who  found  Obookiah  weeping  upon  the  threshold  of  Yale 
College.  The  report  of  the  agents,  dated  September  2,  gives  the  names 
of  twelve  pupils.  Of  these,  two  were  Anglo  Americans,  desirous  of 
preparing  themselves  for  missionary  labors ;  seven  were  natives  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands;  two  were  from  the  East  Indies;  and  one  from  the 
St.  Francis  tribe  of  Indians,  in  Canada.  Of  those  from  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  two  were  members  of  churches  in  this  country,  two  others  were 
expecting  soon  to  be  admitted,  another  gave  very  satisfactory  evidence 
of  piety,  and  the  others  were  seriously  attentive  to  religious  instruction. 
Other  students  might  have  been  admitted,  but  the  state  of  the  school 
and  accommodations  would  not  permit.  This  institution  and  the  fund 
for  educating  heathen  children  were  received  by  the  Christian  public 
with  peculiar  favor. 

The  mission  at  Bombay  pursued  its  labors  in  quiet  under  Bo...imy.  Priming 
the  protection  of  government,  and  made  encouraging  pro-  '=<"""'"""'*• 
gress  in  its  preparatory  work.  The  missionaries  had  prepared  a  Har- 
mony of  the  Gospels  in  the  language  of  the  natives,  portions  of  which 
they  read,  at  stated  times,  to  their  heathen  neighbors.  The  rea(Hng 
was  finished  on  the  4th  of  February.  On  the  20th  of  March,  they  fin- 
ished printing  their  first  work  in  the  Mahralta  language.  It  was  a  Scrip- 
ture tract  of  eight  pages.  Fifteen  hundred  copies  were  printed.  About 
the  middle  of  May,  they  began  to  print  the  Mahratta  gospel  of  JVIatthew, 

9 


66  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1817. 

in  an  edition  of  1500  copies.  Tiie  type  proved  to  be  so  uneven,  that  a 
leo-ible  impression  could  not  be  obtained,  and  it  was  necessary  to  trim 
them  with  their  penknives  before  proceeding. — About  this  time,  a  Jew, 
of  considerable  acquirements,  was  engaged  to  teach  a  school  for  Jewish 
children.  He  commenced  his  school  with  40  pupils. — In  December, 
they  were  encouraged  by  the  increasing  disposition  of  the  natives  to  re- 
ceive their  publications.  Mr.  Hall  had  distributed,  with  his  own  hands, 
nearly  1000  copies  of  a  Guzerattee  tract,  about  500  of  the  Mahratta 
Scripture  tract,  and  100  copies  of  Matthew.  Two  new  schools  had  been 
opened,  making  six  in  all,  having  400  pupils  on  their  lists,  and  an  av- 
erage attendance  of  200.  In  June,  800  had  been  admitted  since  the 
first  commencement  of  the  mission,  and  250  were  on  their  lists.  Into 
these  schools  they  were  now  able  to  introduce  printed  works,  containing 
Christian  instruction.  The  cost  of  each  school,  including  the  teachers' 
wages,  rent  of  school-room,  books,  and  all  other  expenses,  was  estima- 
ted at  about  ten  dollars  a  month,  or  $120  a  year.  Such  a  school  might 
receive  100  scholars,  without  much  increasing  the  expense. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  the  Rev.  Allen  Graves  and  Rev.  John 
Nichols,  with  their  wives  and  Miss  Philomela  Thurston,  sailed  from 
Boston,  to  join  this  mission. 

Sickness  at  ceyio,,.  At  Ccylon,  Mr.  Warrcu  was  repeatedly  attacked  with 

hcemorrhage  of  the  lungs  ;  and  in  October,  as  the  rainy  season  approach- 
ed, he  repaired  to  the  warmer  climate  of  Columbo.  The  journey  and 
change  of  place  afforded  a  temporary  rehef.  Mr.  Richards  had  been 
feeble  for  some  time.  An  inflammation  of  the  eyes  had  prevented  him 
from  study,  for  more  than  a  year.  As  a  remedy,  he  adopted  a  course 
of  rio-idly  abstemious  diet,  in  which  he  persevered,  till  his  constitution 
was  reduced  beyond  recovery.  An  affection  of  the  lungs  was  added  to 
his  general  debility,  and  excited  serious  alarm.  It  was  thought  best  that 
he  should  join  Mr.  Warren  at  Columbo,  and,  unless  prevented  by  some 
special  reason,  that  both  should  proceed  to  Bombay.  The  history  of  the 
next  year  will  record  the  disappointment  of  this  design. 
Hospuj.  The  medical  knowledge  of  these  brethren  had  given 

promise  of  much  good  to  the  mission.  Early  in  this  year,  applications 
for  medical  aid  had  become  so  numerous,  that  the  want  of  a  hospital 
was  seriously  felt,  and  by  the  kindness  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Glenie,  Mr. 
Mooyart,  and  others,  a  small  building  was  erected  and  partially  furnish- 
ed, and  a  monthly  subscription  was  raised,  for  its  support, 
operaiions  eaiurged.  Thc  Other  accommodatlons  of  the  mission  were  increas- 
ed. At  their  request,  the  government  granted  them  the  church  build- 
ings at  Oodooville  and  Miletty.  A  native,  whose  son  had  received  im- 
portant aid  at  the  hospital,  understanding  that  they  wished  to  open  a 
school  at  Panditcripo,  gratuitously  furnished  a  lot  and  timber  for  the 
building,  superintended  its  erection,  and  exerted  himself  to  procure  the 
attendance  of  scholars.  A  school-house,  which  cost  about  $200,  was 
built  at  Mallagum,  chiefly  by  the  subscriptions  of  the  native  inhabitants. 
The  buiklings  at  Batticotta  were  repaired,  and  Messrs.  Warren  and 


1817.] 


INSTANCE  OF  ArPARENT  COXVEUSION. 


G7 


Meigs  moved  into  them.  In  October,  the  weekly  meeting  with  the 
schoolmasters  and  others,  for  prayer  and  personal  conversation  on  re- 
liction, was  commenced.  And  finally,  learning  that  the  expense  of  each 
pupil  would  be  about  twelve  dollars  a  year ;  encouraged  by  the  ex- 
ample of  Christian  David  at  Jaffnapatam  and  of  the  Tranquebar  mission, 
and  by  the  solicitations  of  the  natives,  the  brethren  opened  a  boarding 
school  at  Tillipally,  with  ten  or  twelve  of  their  most  promising  boys. 


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There  was  one  instance  of  apparent'conversion.  Supyen,  the  eldest 
and  favorite  son  of  a  wealthy  native,  having  read  a  few  chapters  in  a 
Bible  given  him  by  a  native  Christian,  suspected  that  heathenism  was 
wrong,  and  was  anxious  to  become  acquainted  with  Christianity.  He 
visited  the  missionaries  at  Tillipally;  and  a  few  days  afterwards  was 
put  under  their  instruction  by  his  father,  to  learn  English.  He  appear- 
ed deeply  interested  in  divine  truth,  and  in  a  short  time  declared  his  be- 
lief in  Christianity,  and  his  desire  to  embrace  it  publicly,  at  any  sacrifice. 
His  father,  hearing  this,  took  him  home,  and  subjected  him  to  a  pro- 
tracted series  of  most  painful  and  humiliating  persecutions.  These  he 
long  resisted,  in  such  a  spirit  as  excited  high  hopes  that  he  would  per- 
severe to  the  end  ;  but  at  length,  wearied  out  with  his  trials,  he  was 
overcome,  and  induced  to  sign  a  recantation  of  Christianity.  He  was 
seen  occasionally,  though  seldom,  by  the  missionaries,  for  several  years; 
and  though  for  a  long  time  his  mind  was  not  at  rest,  he  at  last  appeared 
to  have  settled  down  in  heathenism.  Such  is  the  strength  of  the  influ- 
ences which  a  false  religion  can  bring  to  bear  against  the  true  ;  and  such 
the  weakness  of  the  strongest  human  resolutions,  even  when  based  upon 
clear  convictions  of  truth  and  duty. 


68  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  BOARD.  [1817. 


cherokeps.  Labors  of  THIs  ycar,  thc  Chcrokee  misslon  was  commenced,  with 
the  Moravians.  BHCOuraging  prospects.  Some  valuable  labors  had  preceded 
those  of  the  Board.  The  Moravian  mission  was  projected  as  early  as  1799. 
It  was  commenced  at  Springplace,  in  May,  1801,  by  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Abraham  Steiner  and  Gottleib  Byhan.  Mr.  Steiner  returned  to  North 
Carohna  in  September.  Mr.  Byhan  remained  till  1812,  when  he  left  on 
account  of  the  ill  health  of  his  wife.  The  Rev.  Jacob  Wohlfahrt  was 
employed  in  the  mission  from  1803  to  1805,  The  Rev.  John  Gambold 
and  his  wife  joined  the  mission  in  October,  1805,  and  his  brother  about 
four  years  afterwards.  A  school  had  been  commenced  before  Mr. 
Gambold's  arrival,  in  which  a  few  children  were  fed  and  taught  gra- 
tuitously. At  this  school,  when  Mr.  Kingsbury  arrived,  between  40  and 
50  had  received  instructions.  The  church  at  Springplace  contained 
only  two  Cherokee  members ;  a  woman,  their  first  convert,  who  had 
been  baptized  about  eight  years  before,  and  Mr.  Charles  R.  Hicks,  said 
to  be  second  in  rank  and  first  in  influence  among  the  chiefs  of  the  na- 
tion, who  had  been  a  member  for  five  years.  Mr.  Gambold  cultivated 
a  farm  of  35  acres,  producing  the  necessaries  of  life  in  great  abundance. 
Mr.  Blackburn's  la-  It  was  also  lu  thc  ycar  1799  that  the  Rev.  Gideon  Black- 
'"''■  burn,  of  Tennessee,  first  proposed  the  establishment  of  schools 

among  the  Cherokees  to  the  Union  Presbytery.  Nothing,  however,  was 
accoinplished  till  1S03,  when  Mr.  Blackburn  introduced  the  subject  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  he  was  that 
year  a  member.  The  Assembly  appropriated  $200  for  the  promotion  of 
the  object,  and  appointed  Mr.  Blackburn  their  missionary  for  two 
months.  He  collected  $430  and  some  books  in  Tennessee.  He  called 
on  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  obtained  from  the  Secretary 
of  War  letters  of  recommendation  to  the  Indians,  and  directions  to  Col. 
Meigs,  the  U.  S.  agent,  to  facilitate  his  design.  Having  obtained  the 
sanction  of  the  principal  chiefs,  and  of  a  council  at  which  more  than 
2000  Cherokees  were  present,  he  selected  a  place  for  a  school,  near  the 
Hiwassee  River.  The  necessary  buildings  were  erected,  a  teacher  was 
engaged,  and  in  the  spring  of  1804,  the  school  was  commenced  with  21 
pupils.  A  certificate  from  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  of  Union,  dated 
January  1,  1807,  states  that  the  school  contained  from  45  to  50  scholars, 
who  had  made  commendable  progress  in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,spell- 
ing,  and  singing  spiritual  songs.  At  the  request  of  the  Cherokees,  another 
school  was  opened  in  August,  in  the  lower  district  of  the  nation,  with 
20  or  30  scholars.  This  school  Mr,  Blackburn  established  on  his  own 
responsibility.  The  Committee  on  missions  declared  themselves  unable 
to  assist  him  ;  but  unexpected  aid  was  received  from  private  individuals. 
September  16,  1808,  Mr.  Blackburn  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Tennessee : 
"  The  period  has  at  last  arrived,  on  which  I  have  long  fixed  my  eager  eye. 
The  Cherokee  nation  has  at  length  determined  to  become  men  and  citi- 
zens. A  few  days  ago,  in  full  council,  they  adopted  a  constitution,  which 
embraces  a  simple  principle  of  government.  The  legislative  and  judicial 
powers  are  vested  in  a  general  council,  and  lesser  ones  subordinate.     All 


1817.]  CHEROKEE   MISSION   COMMENCED.      CONVERSIONS.  69 

criminal  accusations  must  be  established  by  testimony ;  and  no  more 
executions  must  be  made  by  the  avenger  of  blood. 

In  January,  1810,  he  sent  to  Dr.  Morse  the  result  of  a  census  of  the 
Cherokee  nation,  according  to  which  the  number  of  Indians  was  12,395 ; 
whites  in  the  nation,  341 ;  whites  with  Indian  wives,  113 ;  negro  slaves, 
583;  cattle,  19,500;  horses,  6,100;  swine,  19,600;  sheep,  1,037;  sev- 
eral grist  and  saw  mills ;  three  saltpetre  works,  and  one  powder  mill ; 
30  wagons,  480  ploughs,  1,600  spinning  wheels,  and  467  looms.  Pro- 
bably, some  of  these  numbers  are  too  large.  "  These  advantages,"  he 
remarks,  "have  mostly  been  obtained  since  1796,  and  have  rapidly  in- 
creased since  1803."  He  adds  that  "  the  number  of  Bibles  and  Testa- 
ments circulated  in  the  nation,  including  the  children  of  the  schools,  is 
upwards  of  600. — But  yet  there  is  no  church  erected,  and  few  feel  the 
impressions  of  grace."  When  Mr.  Kingsbury  arrived,  Mr.  Blackburn's 
schools  had  for  some  time  ceased  to  exist;  and  it  is  probable  that  they 
were  broken  up  in  consequence  of  the  war  of  1812,  in  which,  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  nearly  all  the  southern  Indians  were  engaged, 

Among  this  people  Mr  Kingsbury  commenced  the  first  chcrrkc.-  mis.icn 
mission  of  the  Board  to  the  Indians  of  this  continent.  At  first,  """'"="""■ 
food  was  purchased  in  Tennessee,  and  transported,  with  great  labor  and 
expense,  some  forty  or  fifty  miles  to  the  mission.  To  obviate  this  in- 
convenience, and  to  teach  the  pupils  the  arts  and  habits  of  civilized  life, 
a  farm  was  purchased  on  the  Chickamaugah  creek,  a  part  of  which  had 
been  brought  under  cultivation.  Mr.  Kingsbury  arrived  here  on  the  13th 
of  January,  and  labored  alone  till  the  arrival  of  Messrs.  Moody  Hall  and 
Loring  S.  Williams,  on  the  seventh  of  March.  Mr.  Hall  immediately 
took  charge  of  the  school,  and  Mr.  Williams  of  the  business  department. 
On  the  30th  of  June,  they  had  26  Cherokee  pupils  boarding  with 
them,  and  about  30,  mostly  black  people,  attending  their  Sabbath  School. 
JMr.  Kingsbury  preached  regularly  on  the  Sabbath,  by  an  interpreter,  to  an 
increasing  congregation,  which  then  numbered  about  100. 

The  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  an  agent  of  the  Board,  visit-  co„vers,o..s. 

ed  the  mission  in  September.  A  dwelling-house,  52  feet  by  27,  two 
stories  high;  a  convenient  school-house,  36  feet  by  22  ;  a  grist-mill,  and 
several  smaller  buiklings,  had  then  been  erected,  and  a  considerable 
quantity  of  corn  and  other  provisions  had  been  raised.  Mr.  Cornelius 
soon  after  attended  a  grand  council  of  the  nation,  at  w'hich  the  establish- 
ment of  the  mission  was  approved,  and  the  Cherokee  delegation  at  Wash- 
ington was  instructed  to  ask  the  assistance  of  the  President  in  educating 
their  children.  Mr.  Hicks  and  another  chief  were  then  appointed  to 
render  all  suitable  assistance  and  protection  to  the  mission.  Tlius  the  door 
appeared  to  be  set  wide  open  for  their  labors;  and  as  a  still  greater  en- 
couragement, the  mission  began  to  produce  its  appropriate  fruits  before 
the  close  of  the  year.  November  28,  Mr.  Kingsbury  wrote : "  I  cannot 
omit  to  mention,  that  the  Lord  has  greatly  encouraged  us  by  some  drops 
of  mercy,  which  have  fallen  around  us.  Three  Cherokees,  one  a  mem- 
ber of  our  school,  give,  1  think  I  may  say,  comfortable  evidence  of  piety. 


70  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1817. 

Two  white  men  are  under  very  serious  impressions."  The  Cherokee 
man  was  a  half-breed,  named  Charles  Reece,  who  could  speak  English. 
He  had  lately  received  from  the  President  an  elegant  rifle,  as  a  rew^ard 
for  his  bravery  at  the  battle  of  the  Horseshoe,  w'here  he,  with  two  others, 
swam  the  river  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  and  brought  off  their  canoes 
in  triumph.  The  girl  w^as  Catherine  Brown.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
half-breed  parents,  about  18  years  of  age,  genteel  in  her  appearance,  and 
amiable  in  her  manners.  When  she  entered  the  school,  three  months 
before,  she  could  speak  English,  and  read  words  of  three  letters.  On 
account  of  her  elegant  person  and  manners,  she  had  probably  received 
more  attention  than  any  other  girl  in  the  nation,  and  was,  haughty,  vain, 
and  loaded  with  trinkets.  She  was  sent  to  the  school  at  her  own 
earnest  request ;  had  been  diligent  in  her  studies,  and  correct  in  her  de- 
portment, and  had  learned  to  read  with  ease  and  write  a  tolerably  good 
hand.  When  she  arrived,  she  was  wholly  ignorant  of  spiritual  things, 
and  did  not  know  that  she  was  a  sinner.  Now  she  knew  it  and  felt  it. 
She  often  expressed,  with  tears,  her  anxiety  for  her  poor  people,  as  she 
called  them,  and  the  wish  that  she  could  remain  in  the  mission  family 
and  devote  herself  to  their  instruction.  One  night,  after  the  female 
pupils  had  retired  to  their  sleeping  room,  Catherine  was  overheard  by 
one  of  the  missionaries,  praying  with  them  and  for  them  in  language  of 
imcomraon  humility,  simplicity  and  fervor.  On  being  questioned,  she 
acknowledged  that  this  had  been  her  practice  for  some  time,  because 
she  "  thought  it  wms  her  duty." 

The  journal  of  the  mission  mentions  the  preaching  and  conversation 
of  Mr.  Cornelius  as  a  prominent  means  of  this  awakening.  During  his 
visit,  on  the  last  Sabbath  in  September,  the  mission  was  organized  as  a 
Christian  church. 

About  the  beginning  of  this  year,  the  Rev.  Ard  Hoyt,  pastor  of  a 
Presbyterian  church  in  Wilkesbarre,  Pa.,  46  years  of  age,  offered  himself 
to  the  Board  as  a  missionary  to  the  Indians ;  to  be  accompanied  by  his 
•wife,  one  son,  who  was  then  a  member  of  the  junior  class  at  Princeton 
College,  and  two  daughters,  all  pious  and  desirous  of  missionary  labor; 
and  by  Mr.  William  Chamberlain,  who  had  been  for  some  time  residing 
in  his  family,  preparing,  under  the  patronage  of  a  benevolent  society,  for 
labors  among  the  heathen.  The  offer  was  accepted.  After  having  been 
regularly  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  and  laboring  for  a  time  as 
an  agent  for  the  Board,  he  was  directed  to  proceed  to  the  Cherokee 
country  in  November.  He  received  the  notice  on  Saturday,  and  on 
Monday  the  family  began  their  journey.  On  the  last  day  of  this  year, 
they  arrived  at  Springplace,  and  were  received  with  fraternal  affection 
by  the  Moravian  mission.  The  Rev.  Daniel  S.  Butrick,  who  had  been 
ordained  at  Boston  in  September,  arrived  at  Savannah  just  in  time  to 
join  Mr.  Hoyt,  and  proceed  with  him  to  the  Cherokee  country. 


IS  IS.]        DEATH  OF   OBOOKIAH.      BOMBAY   MISSION   STRENGTHENED. 


CHAPTER   X, 

1S18. — Dcalh  of  Obookiah. — Bombay  Mission  reinforced. — Visit  to  Choule. — 
Increase  and  improvement  of  the  schools. — Death  of  Mr.  Warren. — School 
system  extended  in  Ceylon. — Conversions  and  admissions  to  the  Church  at 
Brainerd. — Removal  of  the  Cherokees  threatened. — Clothing  furnished  for 
Indian  Children. — Choctaw  mission  commenced. — Death  of  Mills. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  New  Haven,  September  10  and  11. 
The  officers  of  the  last  year  were  re-elected,  with  the  addition  of  the 
Hon.  William  Reed  to  the  Prudential  Committee. — The  donations  to 
the  Board,  during  the  year  ending  August  31,  were  more  than  ^32,000 ; 
income  from  pcimanent  fund  and  other  sources,  about  j|3,000 ;  payments 
from  the  treasury,  more  than  $36,000.  The  number  of  auxiliary  societies, 
of  different  names  and  magnitudes,  was  about  500. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  Henry  Obookiah,  the  oldest  and  best  known 
of  the  students  at  the  Foreign  Mission  School,  having  honored  God  while 
in  health  and  during  the  sufferings  of  a  mortal  ferver,  died  as  a  Christian 
would  wish  to  die.  But  he  had  not  lived  in  vain.  He  had  accomplish- 
ed life's  great  end,  in  the  preparation  of  his  own  soul  for  the  life  to  come. 
His  tears  on  the  College  threshold  at  New  Haven,  more  than  any  thing 
else,  had  .called  the  school  into  existence,  and  secured  the  preparation  of 
several  of  his  countrymen  to  return  to  the  Islands,  instructed  in  the  way 
of  hfe.  He  had  commenced  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  his  na- 
tive language,  and  began  to  prepare  a  dictionary,  and  a  grammar.  He 
had  lived  till  the  interest  in  his  kindred  according  to  the  flesh  had  be- 
come general,  and  a  mission  to  the  Islands  was  rendered  certain  and  near 
at  hand. 

The  mission  at  Bombay  was  strengthened  by  the  arrival  Bomb,,y  Mission 
of  Messrs.  Graves  and  Nichols,  on  the  23d  of  February.  ^"'="s'i"^'"^J- 
On  being  informed  of  their  arrival,  the  Governor  gave  permission  for 
both  to  remain  at  Bombay ;  saying,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  Supreme 
Government  at  Calcutta  had  power  to  order  them  away,  but  he  did 
not  expect  any  such  interference,  and  that  they  could  at  all  events 
remain  for  a  year. 

It  was  thought  best  that  Mr.  Graves  should  commence  New  shui.,,,.. 
a  new  station  at  Mahim,  on  the  northern  part  of  the  island  of  Bombay, 
in  the  midst  of  a  compact  heathen  population  of  about  20,000,  and  near 
to  a  still  greater  number  on  the  neighboring  island  of  Salsette.  The 
station  selected  for  Mr.  Nichols  was  at  Tannah,  on  the  island  of  Salsette, 
about  25  miles  from  Bombay,  and  separated  only  by  a  very  narrow 
strait  from  a  numerous  population  on  the  continent.  Mr.  Graves  remov- 
ed to  Mahim  on  the  9lh  of  March.  Mr.  Nichols  remained  with  the 
brethren  in  Bombay  till  about  the  last  of  October.     Miss  Thurston,  who 


72  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1818. 

went  out  with  this  company,  was  married  to  Mr.  Newell,  according  to 
previous  engagement,  March  26. 

Labors  in  the  conca,,.  Duriugt  hc  lattcr  part  of  the  year,  Messrs.  Newell  and  Hall 
visited  the  towns  and  villages  for  nearly  a  hundred  miles 
along  the  coast,  collecting  information,  distributing  books,  and  preaching 
the  gospel  as  they  could  find  opportunity.  In  oneof  these  journeys  Mr.  Hall 
visited  the  district  of  Choule,  25  or  30  miles  south  of  Bombay.  Here,  in 
a  small  compass,  are  six  or  eight  towns,  belonging  nominally  as  well  as 
virtually  to  the  English,  containing  30,000  inhabitants,  nearly  all  heathen. 
In  front  of  Rawadunda,  the  principal  town,  one  uniform  cocoa-nut  grove 
spread  a  melancholy  shade  over  an  extensive  fort,  with  lofty  walls  and 
numerous  towers  built  in  the  time  of  the  Portuguese  dominion ;  over 
temples,  monasteries  and  private  dwelhngs  now  mouldering  in  ruin,  and 
without  an  inhabitant.  Within  two  miles  of  the  same  spot,  the  still 
more  ancient  ruins  of  Muhammedan  fortifications,  temples,  seraglios  and 
sepulchral  monuments  marked  the  site  of  another  dead  and  buried  em- 
pire. Hindooism  itself  appeared  to  be  in  its  dotage.  Some  of  its  tem- 
ples showed  signs  of  indigence  and  neglect,  and  others  were  entirely 
deserted.  At  the  small  village  of  Boarlee,  there  was  only  one  Roman 
Catholic  church  in  use.  The  roof  had  fallen  in,  the  whole  population 
connected  with  it  did  not  exceed  200,  and  no  exertions  were  made  for 
the  conversion  of  the  natives.  There  was  not  a  single  school  in  all  these 
towns  visited  by  Mr.  Hall.  Formerly  there  were  several ;  but  the  in- 
creasing poverty  of  the  people  had  dispersed  them.  The  people  appear- 
ed desirous  to  have  charity  schools  established,  and  several,  who  had 
been  teachers,  requested  to  be  employed.  After  Mr.  Hall  returned  to 
Bombay,  it  was  determined  to  send  Samuel  Yasoph,  a  Jew  from  the  dis- 
trict of  Choule,  who  had  been  in  their  employment  from  the  beginning, 
to  open  a  school  at  Rawadunda  for  Jewish  and  Hindoo  children,  and  that 
another  should  be  established  at  Kaup.  On  the  30th  of  November  a 
letter  was  received  from  Samuel,  stating  that  his  school  had  30  boys 
and  the  other  20,  and  that  both  were  increasing. 

Schools  at  Bombay.  Thc  schools  ou  the  island  of  Bombay  continued  to  in- 

crease. In  April  there  were  eleven,  having  600  regular  atten- 
dants, and  as  many  more  who  attended  irregularly.  At  the  end  of  the  year, 
the  number  of  schools  was  14.  True,  nearly  all  the  teachers  were  heathen, 
and  none  of  them  Christians.  But  the  mission  prescribed  the  course  of 
study,  so  that  instruction  in  heathenism  was  excluded,  and  much  scriptural 
truth  and  morality  inculcated.  Thus  they  were  raising  up  a  generation 
who  would  not  be  the  slaves  of  Hindoo  habits  of  thought,  and  who  could 
better  appreciate  the  claims  of  a  pure  morality  and  of  evangelical  truth. 
And  now,  too,  the  mission  press  had  begun  to  furnish  school  books.  The 
introduction  of  printed  books,  containing  useful  information  and  Chris- 
tian truth,  was  an  immense  improvement.  So  evident  was  this,  even  to 
the  heathen,  that  in  a  short  time  after  the  first  edition  was  printed,  these 
books  were  procured  and  introduced  into  schools  twenty  miles  in  the  in- 
terior.    The  other  labors  of  the  mission, — preaching,  translating  and 


1818.]  DEATH   OF    MR.    WARUEN.       MISSION    EXTENDED.  73 

printing,  were  continued  with  the  usual  perseverance,  energy  and  suc- 
cess. 

Messrs.  Richards  and  Warren,  of  the  Ceylon  mission,  M^/vvvren""'''  "^ 
were  advised  to  seek  the  restoration  of  their  health  by  a  voyage  to  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Archdeacon  Twisleton  procured  from  the  Gov- 
ernor an  order,  granting  them  a  free  passage  in  a  government  transport 
about  to  sail.  They  embarked  April  25.  The  weather  was  favorable, 
and  their  health  improved  till  they  came  in  sight  of  land.  The  weather 
then  became  boisterous;  they  were  driven  out  to  sea,  and  were  for  a 
fortnight  in  the  power  of  the  tempests.  They  finally  landed  early  in 
July  at  Simon's  Bay,  and  arrived  at  Cape  Town  on  the  14th,  with  severe 
colds  and  exhausted  strength.  In  a  few  days,  all  hope  of  Mr.  Warren's 
recovery  was  abandoned.  He  awaited  his  summons  in  a  state  of  calm 
and  humble  reliance  on  Christ  for  salvation,  sometimes  loncjins:  to  de- 
part,  till  August  11,  when  his  spirit  was  admitted  to  a  better  world. 
His  body  was  interred  by  the  side  of  a  man,  supposed  to  be  the  first  con- 
vert from  Muhammedanism  in  Africa,  who  had  died  a  few  days  before, 
at  the  age  of  77,  in  the  triumphs  of  faith.  The  health  of  Mr.  Richards 
continued  much  the  same ;  and  finding  no  direct  passage  to  Ceylon,  he 
embarked,  November  25,  for  Madras,  where  he  arrived  on  the  20th  of 
January,  hoping  soon  to  reach  Ceylon,  and  die  on  missionary  ground. 

Though  thus  weakened,  the  mission  continued  to  pros-  ^is^in,,  extended. 
per.  Besides  their  two  principal  stations,  six  other  large  parishes  were 
placed  under  their  particular  care.  In  all  these,  they  were  put  in  pos- 
session of  the  old  church  buildings,  and  expected  to  establish  and  over- 
see schools  and  preach  the  gospel.  In  November,  Mr.  Poor  had  under 
his  care  eight  schools,  containing  about  400  pupils.  In  September,  Mr. 
Meigs  had  five  schools,  and  was  about  to  open  two  more.  Mr.  Poor 
had  in  his  family,  near  the  close  of  the  year,  24  boys,  many  of  whom 
were  called  by  the  names  of  benefactors  in  this  country.  This  form  of 
charity  had  first  been  suggested  by  Mr.  Hall,  at  Bombay;  but  at  that 
place,  the  prejudices  of  the  natives  prevented  its  adoption  to  any  very 
great  extent.  In  Ceylon,  the  obstacles  were  comparatively  slight ;  and 
as  the  plan  was  received  with  abundant  favor  by  the  churches,  its  ope- 
ration has  been  limited  only  by  the  strength  of  the  mission. — On  the 
Sabbath,  the  gospel  was  preached  at  the  several  stations,  to  the  children 
belonging  to  the  schools,  and  to  a  considerable  number  of  their  parents, 
and  other  natives.  Sometimes  as  many  as  300  were  present.  Francis 
Malleappa  read  to  the  people  on  the  Sabbath  at  Mallagum,  and  render- 
ed important  aid  in  superintending  the  schools. 

The  Committee  determined  to  strengthen  this  mission;  and  on  the 
4th  of  November,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Miron  Winslow,  Levi  Spaulding 
and  Henry  Woodward  were  ordained  for  this  service,  at  the  Taber- 
nacle Church  in  Salem. 

AmongtheCherokecs,  the  mission  church  held  its  first       cherokees.   nr.t 
meeting  for  the  examination  of  candidates  for  admission  on  '''''"'°"'°"" 
the  21st  of  January.    Three  Cherokees  were  examined,  approved,  and  re- 

10 


74  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1818. 

ceived  to  be  propounded  the  next  Sabbath.  On  Sabbath,  January 
25,  the  sacrament  of  baptism  was  administered  to  Catherine  Brown. 
January  27,  Messrs.  Hoyt  and  Hall  went  out  to  visit  native  families,  and 
spent  the  night  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Reece.  Several  of  the  natives  were 
present.  Mr.  Reece  acted  as  interpreter,  and  made  some  remarks  of  his 
own.  All  were  serious.  One  woman  wept  freely,  when  told  of  the  sin- 
fulness of  man,  the  sufferings  of  the  Savior,  and  forgiveness  through  his 
blood.  She  said  she  had  before  thought  that  the  wicked  would  be  pun- 
ished and  the  good  made  happy  after  death,  but  did  not  think  that  there 
was  any  way  for  those  who  had  once  been  wicked,  to  become  good 
and  happy.  She  wished  them  to  tell  her  what  was  wicked;  and  though 
backward  and  ashamed  to  confess  what  she  felt  of  her  own  guilt,  she 
said  she  knew  that  she  had  done  wrong-  things  ;  that  she  was  sometimes 
so  much  afraid,  on  account  of  her  wickedness,  that  she  could  not  stay  in 
her  own  house,  but  fled  into  the  woods ;  but  that  gave  her  no  relief,  for  she 
was  afraid  everywhere. 

On  the  Sabbath,  February  1,  Charles  Reece  and  Jane  Coody,  Che- 
rokeeSjWere  baptized,  with  their  households,  and  admitted  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  church.  A  Cherokee  man  and  his  wife,  being  invited, 
spent  the  night  with  the  missionaries.  He  had  understood  nothing  of 
what  he  had  seen  and  heard  that  day ;  but  said  he  had  heard  that  the 
missionaries  could  tell  him  some  way  by  which  bad  people  might  be- 
come good  and  be  happy  after  death ;  that  he  was  bad  himself,  and 
wanted  to  become  good,  and  had  come  to  learn  what  their  way  was. 
Having  received  appropriate  instruction,  he  departed,  expressing  his 
thanks  for  the  information  given  him,  saying  that  these  things  were 
good,  and  that  he  had  never  heard  them  before. 

On  the  last  Sabbath  in  March,  one  white  man  and  two  natives  were 
admitted  as  members  of  the  church.  They  were  baptized,  with  their 
households.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  to  22  communicants, 
including  four  from  Spring-place.  Seven  of  the  communicants  were 
Cherokees.  On  the  last  Sabbath  in  July,  a  black  man  was  received  as 
a  member  of  the  church.  The  same  evening,  they  found  evidence  of  re- 
cent conversion  in  one  of  the  Cherokee  girls  in  the  school.  August  9, 
the  journal  of  the  mission  says  :  "  We  feel  ourselves  under  renew"ed  and 
increasing  obligations  of  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of  all  good,  for  hopeful 
appearances  among  our  children.  Several  of  them  appear  seriously  and 
solemnly  impressed  with  divine  truth,  and  we  have  hope  that  two  or 
three  of  them  have  been  recently  born  of  the  Spirit." 

As  the  health  of  Mr.  Evarts  required  relaxation  and  travel,  it  was 
thought  advisable  that  he  should  visit  the  Cherokee  mission.  He  arri- 
ved at  Chickamaugah  in  May.  During  his  visit,  he  acquired  much  im- 
portant information,  consulted  fully  with  the  brethren  concerning  the 
affairs  of  the  mission,  decided  that  Chickamaugah  should  thenceforth  be 
called  Brainerd,  attended  a  grand  council  held  in  reference  to  the  remo- 
val of  a  part  of  the  nation  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  renewed  the  en- 
couragement previously  given,  that  a  mission  and  schools  should  be  es- 


1818.]         CHEROKEES  THREATENED  WITH  REMOVAL.  75 

tablished  among  them  on  the  Arkansas.     In  August,  the  Prudential 
Committee  resolved  to  estabhsh  that  mission  as  soon  as  practicable. 

The  troubles  of  the  Cherokees,  concerning  the  sale  of  .■i.^mk.e.  ihr..«t. 
their  country  and  removal  to  the  West,  had  even  now  be-  '""'*"'■  "'"°'"''- 
gun,  as  a  few  extracts  from  the  journal  of  the  mission  will  show. 

"  November  4.  The  parents  of  Catherine  Brown  called  on  us. 
They  are  on  their  way  to  the  agency.  The  old  gary-headed  man,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  said  he  must  go  over  the  Mi&sissippi.  The  white 
people  would  not  suffer  him  to  live  here.  They  had  stolen  his  cattle, 
horses  and  hogs,  until  he  had  very  little  left.  He  expected  to  return  I'rora 
the  agency  in  about  ten  days,  and  should  then  want  Catherine  to  go 
home  and  prepare  to  go  with  him  to  the  Arkansas.  We  requested  him 
to  leave  his  daughter  with  us  yet  a  little  while,  and  go  to  the  Arkansas 
without  her;  and  we  would  send  her  to  him,  with  much  moi'e  know- 
ledge than  she  now"  has.  To  this  he  would  not  consent ;  but  signified 
a  flesire,  that  some  of  us  would  go  along  with  him.  It  is  a  great  trial 
to  think  of  sending  this  dear  sister  away  with  only  one  year's  tuition  ; 
but  we  tear  she  must  go." 

"25.  A  white  man,  who  has  a  Cherokee  family,  and  is  himself 
about  as  ignorant  as  most  of  the  Cherokees,  brought  back  his  son,  who 
has  been  home  on  a  visit.  The  father  said  he  was  greatly  discouraged 
about  trying  to  give  his  son  an  education,  and  did  not  know  what  to  do 
about  bringing  him  back;  as  he  thought  the  white  people  were  deter- 
mined to  have  the  country,  and  it  was  likely  he  should  be  obliged  to  re- 
move over  the  Mississippi  before  his  son  could  learn  enough  to  do  him 
any  good.  He  said  many  of  the  Cherokees  were  discouraged,  and  keep- 
ing their  children  at  home  on  the  same  account.  We  told  him  this 
need  not  make  any  difference  in  regard  to  sending  their  children  to 
school ;  for  in  the  event  of  the  removal  of  the  nation,  the  children  would 
be  removed  also;  and  what  was  lacking  in  the  education  of  children 
admitted  to  school  here,  should  be  finished  there.  He  semed  much 
pleased  with  this;  and  said, he  did  not  before  expect  we  would  be  wil- 
ling to  o;o  so  far.     He  should  never  go,  unless  he  was  obliged  to  do  so. , 

"  These  people  consider  the  offer  of  taking  reserves,  and  becoming 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  as  of  no  service  to  them.  They  know  they 
are  not  to  be  admitted  to  the  rights  of  freemen,  or  the  privilege  of  their 
oath  ;  and  say,  no  Cherokee,  or  white  man  with  a  Cherokee  family,  can 
possibly  live  among  such  white  people  as  will  first  settle  their  country. 

"  28.  The  great  talk,  for  which  the  people  began  to  assemble  on 
the  20th  of  October,  was  closed  yesterday.  The  United  States'  Com- 
missioners proposed  to  the  Cherokees  an  entire  change  of  country,  ex- 
cept such  as  chose  to  take  reserves,  and  come  under  the  government  of 
the  United  States.  This  proposition  they  unanimously  rejected,  and 
continued  to  reject,  as  often  as  repeated,  urging  that  the  late  treaty 
might  be  closed  as  soon  as  possible.     Nothing  was  done." 

The  customary  dress,  or  rather  want  of  dress,  of  the  Chero-  Donation,  in  cio- 
kee  children,  was  a  hinderance  to  their  attendance  at  school.    """*' 


76  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1818. 

Many  parents  were  destitute  of  the  skill  requisite  to  prepare  suitable 
clothing.  Every  article  of  apparel,  if  purchased,  cost  twice  as  much 
as  in  New  England.  The  female  members  of  the  mission  were  over- 
burdened with  other  labors,  and  could  not  provide  clothing  for  50  or  60 
children.  Benevolent  ladies  at  the  north,  therefore,  proposed  to  furnish 
clothing  for  the  pupils  gratuitously ;  and  finally,  public  notice  was  given, 
that  donations  of  this  kind  were  needed.  The  notice  stated  that  gene- 
rally the  parents  would  gladly  pay  for  the  garments  furnished  to  their 
children ;  so  that  their  value  would  in  fact  be  given  to  the  Board,  for 
the  general  objects  of  the  mission.  Children's  clothes,  too,  would  often 
purchase  articles  from  the  natives,  which  the  mission  family  needed.  The 
call  met  with  a  gratifying  response,  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Great 
quantities  of  clothing  were  made  and  sent  to  this  and  other  Indian  mis- 
sions. One  of  the  results  shows  the  general  character  of  stories  preju- 
dicial to  missions.  It  was  reported,  that  some  of  these  garments  had 
been  seen  on  children  who  had  never  belonged  to  the  schools;  which, *t 
was  supposed,  proved  that  the  benevolence  of  the  donors  was  abused. 
The  truth  was,  that  the  garments  thus  seen  had  been  purchased  with 
corn,  or  other  necessary  articles,  for  the  use  of  the  mission,  and  thus 
answered  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  given, 
chociaw  Mission  Thc  missiou  to  the  Choctaws  was  commenced  this  year. 

cummenced.  Unablc  to  fiud  auothcr  man  so  competent  to  encounter  and 

overcome  the  difficulties  and  hardships  of  establishing  the  mission,  the 
Committee  reluctantly  invited  Mr.  Kingsbury  to  leave  his  hopeful  be- 
ginnings, and  undertake  the  task.  He  readily  accepted  the  invitation, 
left  Brainerd,  with  Mr.  Williams  and  his  wife,  about  the  first  of  June, 
and  arrived  at  the  Yalo  Busha  Creek,  in  the  Choctaw  nation,  in  about 
four  weeks.  A  site  for  the  mission  was  selected  near  the  Creek,  and 
called  Elliot.  On  the  15th  of  August,  the  first  tree  of  the  dense  forest 
was  felled,  and  on  the  18th,  their  first  log  house,  15  feet  by  18,  was 
raised.  On  the  29th,  a  reinforcement  arrived  by  way  of  New  Orleans. 
It  consisted  of  Mr.  Peter  Kanouse  and  Mr.  John  G.  Kanouse  and  his 
wife,  from  Rockaway,N.  J.,  and  Mr.  Moses  Jewell,  from  Chenango  Co., 
N.  Y.  Their  hardships  now  commenced.  The  facilities  for  transport- 
ing stores  proved  to  be  less  than  they  had  been  represented.  The  men 
whom  they  had  hired,  disappointed  them.  The  health  of  several  mem- 
bers of  the  mission  failed,  and  the  lives  of  some  appeared  to  be  in  dan- 
ger. Mr.  Peter  Kanouse  had  been  feeble  before  he  left  the  north;  a  sea 
voyage  proved  unfavorable,  and  after  his  arrival,  the  smallest  degree  of 
labor  produced  an  alarming  inflammation  of  the  lungs.  It  appeared  to 
be  his  duty  to  leave  the  mission  on  the  5th  of  October,  and  return  to  his 
family.  Still  they  persevered  without  repining,  and  in  their  toils  and 
sufferings,  laid  the  foundation  of  much  good  to  the  people  to  whom  they 
had  been  sent. 

Death  of  s  j.Miih.  Thls  year  was  distinguished  by  the  death  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  J.  Mills.  The  American  Colonization  Society  had  invited  him 
to  visit  Africa  as  their  agent,  to  explore  the  coast  with  reference  to  a 


IS  18.]  DEATH    OF   MR.    MILLS.  77 

place  for  their  first  settlement.  He  selected  as  his  companion  in  this 
voyage,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Burc^ess,  now  Dr.  Burgess  of  Dedham,  Mass., 
to  whom  he  wrote : — "  My  brother,  can  we  engage  in  a  nobler  enter- 
prise? We  go  to  make  freemen  of  slaves.  We  go  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  a  free  and  independent  empire  on  the  coast  of  poor  degraded 
Africa.  It  is  confidently  believed  by  many  of  our  best  and  wisest  men, 
that,  if  the  plan  proposed  succeeds,  it  will  ultimately  be  the  means  of 
exterminating  slavery  in  our  country.  It  will  eventually  redeem  and 
emancipate  a  million  and  a  half  of  wretched  men.  It  will  transfer  to 
the  coast  of  Africa,  the  blessings  of  religion  and  civilization;  and  Ethi- 
opia will  soon  stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God."  Having  spent  some 
time  as  an  agent  of  the  Society  at  home,  in  forming  auxiliaries,  he  sail- 
ed for  Africa,  with  Mr.  Burgess,  on  the  16th  of  November,  1817.  Hav- 
ing had  extensive  intercourse  with  the  chiefs  on  the  coast,  and  collected 
much  important  and  encouraging  information,  the  brethren  embark- 
ed for  England,  on  their  return,  on  the  22d  of  May,  1818.  Mr.  Mills 
had  a  stricture  on  the  luniks  and  a  dano-erous  cough  before  he  left  home. 
The  damp  and  chill  atmosphere  of  England  had  aggravated  the  disease. 
While  in  Africa,  it  abated,  and  he  was  capable  of  labor.  On  his  return, 
on  the  5th  of  June,  he  took  a  severe  cold,  and  from  that  time  rapidly 
declined,  till,  on  the  16th,  between  two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, after  delightful  conversation  on  the  prospect  before  him,  his 
strength  failed  ;  he  gently  folded  his  hands  across  his  breast,  and  with  a 
smile  of  meek  serenity,  ceased  to  breathe.  As  the  sun  went  down,  all 
on  board  assembled,  and,  after  solemn  prayer  to  the  "  God  of  the  spirits 
of  all  flesh,"  the  body  was  committed  to  the  ocean.  It  was  fitting  that 
the  remains  of  such  a  man,  whose  character  no  monument  could  suita- 
bly represent,  should  rest  where  none  could  be  attempted.  Though  not 
permitted  to  engage  personally  in  a  foreign  mission,  he  had  done  much 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Dr.  Griffin,  speaking  of  the  society 
formed  by  him  and  his  associates  at  Williams  College,  says  :  "  I  have 
been  in  situations  to  know,  that  from  the  counsels  formed  in  that  sacred 
conclave,  or  from  the  mind  of  Mills  himself,  arose  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  American  Bible  Society,  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  the  African  School  under  the 
care  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey;  besides  all  the  impe- 
tus given  to  Domestic  Missions,  to  the  Colonization  Society,  and  to  the 
general  cause  of  benevolence  in  both  hemispheres."  He  then  adds:  "If 
I  had  any  instrumentality  in  originating  any  of  those  measures,  I  here 
publicly  (leclare,  that  in  every  instance  1  received  the  first  impulse  from 
Samuel  John  Mills." 


78  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1819. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

1819. — Anual  Meeting  at  Boston. — Arrangement  for  Corresponding  Secretary. 
— Preaching  Room  procured  at  Bombay. — Kader  Yar  Khan.— Cholera  at 
Ceylon. — Conversions,  and  admissions  to  the  Churcli. — Reinforcement  sent 
out  by  the  Indus. — Threatened  removal  of  the  Cherokees. — Dr.  Worcester's 
Agency  at  Washington. — Sixteenth  Treaty  with  the  Cherokees. — President 
Monroe  visits  Brainerd. — Conversions. — John  Arch. — Choctaw  Mission 
strengthened. — Church  formed  at  Elliot. — School  opened. — Secular  Statis- 
tics of  the  mission. — First  Missionaries  sent  to  the  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas ; 
— to  the  Sandwich  Islands; — to  Palestine. 

The  tenth  annual  meeting  was  held  in  Boston,  on  the  15th,  16th  and 
17th  of  September.  The  vice  presidency  having  been  left  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  Spring,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman  was  elected  ;  and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Woods  was  chosen  to  supply  his  place  in  the  Prudential  Committee. 
The  Board  resolved  to  elect  corresponding  members  in  different  parts  of 
the  United  States  and  other  countries,  who  might  aid  its  labors  by  com- 
municating information,  and  in  such  other  ways  as  circumstances  should 
render  practicable.  Thirty-three  were  chosen,  twenty  of  whom  were 
Americans,  and  thirteen,  residents  in  different  parts  of  Europe  and 
Asia.*     It  was  also 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Board  will  ever  exercise  an  affectionate  and  provident 
care  for  the  widows  and  children  of  such  missionaries,  as  shall  have  deceased 
in  its  service ;  and  the  Prudential  Committee  are  authorized,  and  it  will  be 
their  duty,  to  make  such  provisions  in  these  cases,  as  will  be  consistent  with 
the  principles  of  the  missionary  cause,  and  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  respective  missionary  stations." 

The  labors  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  having  become  more 
extensive  than  a  settled  pastor  could  perform,  while  doing  his  duty  to 
the  people  of  his  charge ;  and  a  fund  having  been  raised  by  subscrip- 
tion to  aid  in  supporting  him,  the  Tabernacle  Church,  at  Salem,  of 
which  he  was  pastor,  consented,  at  the  request  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, to  dispense  with  three  fourths  of  his  service ;  and,  to  supply  the 
deficiency,  the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  was  installed,  on  the  21st  of  July, 
as  his  associate  in  the  pastoral  office. 

Bombay.  Operations  The  misslonarics  at  Bombay  commenced  preaching  to 
enlarged.  ^y^^  natlvcs  m  3  Toom  hired  for  that  purpose,  and  the  attend- 

ance, though  small,  was  encouraging.  In  August,  five  new  schools 
had  been  established.  During  the  remainder  of  the  year,  they  received 
frequent  applications  from  the  natives  to  establish  schools,  but  they 
could  not  be  opened  for  want  of  funds.  The  education  of  native  chil- 
dren in  the  families  of  the  missionaries,  to  any  considerable  extent, 

*  See  Appendix  C. 


1819.]  A   CONVERT.      SICKNESS   AT   CEYLON.  79 

proved  impracticable,  from  the  impossibility  of  procuring  pupils,  and  a 
great  pnrt  of  the  funds  given  for  that  purpose  were,  with  consent  of  the 
donors,  transferred  to  the  mission  at  Ceylon. 

Early  in  this  year,  Kader  Yar  Khan  presented  himself  a  convert. 

as  an  inquirer.  He  was  a  Muhammedan  merchant,  of  good  family,  from 
Hydrabad,  a  town  in  Golconda,  about  400  miles  east  from  Bombay. 
Visiting  Bombay  on  business,  he  met  with  a  Christian  tract,  which  made 
a  deep  unpression  upon  his  mind.  After  returning  home  and  reflecting 
on  what  he  had  read,  and  especially  on  the  claims  of  Christianity  to  be 
received  as  the  only  true  religion,  he  wisely  determined  to  give  the  sub- 
ject a  thorough  examination  without  delay.  He  committed  his  business 
to  the  care  of  an  agent,  and,  attended  by  a  train  of  20  servants, came  to 
Bombay.  Having  introduced  himself  to  the  missionaries,  he  sent  back  his 
servants,  and  lived  in  retirement,  for  the  sake  of  pursuing,  undisturbed, 
the  great  inquiry  which  had  brought  him  to  Bombay.  By  the  advice  of 
the  missionaries,  he  read  Henry  Martyn's  Persian  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  other  Christian  books.  In  May,  he  said  that  he  had  for 
a  long  time  neither  read  the  Koran,  nor  practised  the  worship  it  enjoins. 
He  achnitted  the  necessity  of  a  spiritual  change,  but  professed  no  experi- 
mental knowledge  of  it.  At  this  time,  his  attention  seemed  chiefly 
drawn  to  the  forms  and  history  of  Christianity.  Continuing  his  studies, 
he  attained  to  clearer  views  of  truth ;  and,  having  given  satisfactory 
evidence  of  a  change  of  heart,  on  the  25th  of  September  he  was  bap- 
tized, and  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  Mission  church  at  Bombay.  He 
declared  himself  willing  to  change  his  name  and  dress,  and  cut  off"  his 
beard ;  but  being  shown  that  such  changes  were  not  necessary,  and 
might  prove  inexpedient,  he  continued  unchanged  in  these  respects.  For 
some  months  he  resided  at  Bombay,  aiding  the  missionaries  as  a  teacher 
of  Hindostanee,  and  recommending,  by  argument  and  example,  as  oppor- 
tunities presented,  the  religion  of  Jesus  to  others.  He  then  returned  to 
his  family  at  Hydrabad.  Since  his  return,  the  missionaries  have  heard 
from  him  less  than  was  desirable,  but  the  accounts  have  always  been 
favorable.  His  example  may  well  put  to  shame  many  wealthy  men  in 
Christian  lands. 

The  Ceylon  mission  continued  to  suffer  from  ill  health,  cyion.  sickness. 
Early  in  the  year,  Mr.  Richards  obtained  a  passage  from  Madras  to 
Columbo,  and  thence  had  an  uncomfortable  journey  to  Jaffiia.  His  life, 
however,  was  spared  for  the  present,  and  he  was  able  to  aid  his  brethren 
by  his  counsels  and  his  prayers,  and  even  to  render  important  services 
as  a  physician.  The  health  of  Mr.  Poor  failed,  and  for  a  considerable 
part  of  the  year  he  was  obliged  to  abstain  from  missionary  labors;  but, 
as  a  reinforcement  was  expected  soon,  arrangements  were  made,  by  the 
aid  of  Nicholas  and  some  of  the  larger  boys,  to  keep  the  schools  and 
other  labors  at  that  station  in  operation.  Mr.  Meigs  enjoyed  good  health 
till  about  the  end  of  the  year,  when  his  also  failed,  just  as  the  reinforce- 
ment arrived.  The  diseases  of  the  missionaries  were,  in  all  these  cases, 
pulmonary. 


80 


HISTORY    OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1819. 


School  Bungalow  at  Ceylon. 


Schools  enlarge.!.  Still,  the  schools  werc  carried  on  and  enlarged.  There 
were  fifteen  free  schools,  nine  in  connexion  with  Tillipally,  and  six  with 
Batticotta,  supported  by  the  mission  at  a  trifling  expense;  all  containing 
about  700  scholars.  There  was  also  a  boarding  school  at  each  station, 
consisting  of  youths  taken  under  the  special  care  of  the  mission,  and  sup- 
ported by  individuals  or  societies  in  this  country;  most  of  them  bearing 
names  selected  by  their  benefactors.  These  schools  contained  48  boys 
and  9  girls.  Their  good  influence  was  manifest,  and  the  mission  entreat- 
ed for  funds  for  the  the  extension  of  the  system. 

The  Cholera.  In  the  early  part  of  this  year,  the  ravages  of  the  cholera 

were  fearful,  and  much  of  the  time  of  Mr.  Meigs  was  occupied  in  attend- 
ing upon  the  sick.  Generally,  the  natives  were  afraid  to  use  any  med- 
ical remedy,  lest  the  goddess,  whose  "  sport"  they  supposed  the  cholera 
to  be,  should  be  offended.  When  one  was  attacked,  all  but  his  nearest 
relatives  fled;  his  relatives  carried  him  to  the  nearest  temple,  and  pros- 
trated him  before  the  idol,  where,  in  almost  every  instance,  he  died  in  a 
few  hours.  When  Mr.  Meigs  could  arrive  in  season,  and  obtain  per- 
mission to  administer  the  usual  specific,  (large  doses  of  calomel  and 
opium,)  the  patient  commonly  recovered.  He  told  them  that  his  reli- 
gion led  him  to  these  efforts  for  the  preservation  of  men's  lives,  and  many 
acknowledged  its  superiority  to  that  of  the  heathen. 
Thefirsi  Revival.  Thls  ycar  witucsscd  the  first  of  that  series  of  revivals,  by 
which  this  favored  mission  has  been  distinguished.  Its  subjects  were 
few  in  number;  but  the  work  had  all  the  characteristics  of  the  more  ex- 
tensive revivals  of  later  years.  As  its  fruits,  the  joint  letter  of  the  mis- 
sions, written  in  November,  states  that  Gabriel  Tissera  and  Nicholas 
Permander  had  been  received  into  the  church ;  there  were  some  who  gave 


1819.]  CHEROKEES.      REMOVAL    AVERTED.  81 

evidence  of  piety  at  each  of  the  stations,  and  several  of  the  boys  in  the 
schools  were  subjects  of  special  seriousness. 

The  Rev.  Miron  Winslovv,  Levi  Spaulding  and  Henry  Reinforcement,  ron. 
Woodward,  and  Dr.  John  Scudder,  a  physician  from  the  city  ^ "■*"">»  """"""j'-g'- 
of  New  York,  who  had  offered  himself  for  this  service,  embarked,  on  the 
8th  of  June,  at  Salem,  in  the  brig  Indus,  bound  to  Calcutta,  to  touch  at  Cey- 
lon if  practicable.  The  voyage  was  long,  but  generally  agreeable,  espe- 
cially as  it  was  not  without  spiritual  benefit  to  the  crew.  The  captain 
was  already  a  man  of  established  religious  character.  Before  their 
arrival  at  Calcutta,  the  whole  crew,  sixteen  in  all,  professed  and  appeared 
to  become  truly  penitent  for  sin,  and  to  accept  the  mercy  offered  in 
the  gospel.  On  their  arrival  in  port,  the  temptations  of  that  dissolute  city 
overcame  the  constancy  of  some.  Others  continued  to  "  bear  fruit  with 
patience."  As  the  Indus  did  not  visit  Ceylon,  the  missionaries  were 
obliged  to  seek  for  other  means  of  conveyance.  Messrs.  Winslow  and 
Spaulding,  with  their  wives,  arrived  at  Columbo,  December  20 ;  Mr. 
Woodward  and  wife  reached  Trincomalee,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
island,  on  the  23d.  Dr.  Scudder  and  his  wife  arrived  at  Tillipally  just 
before  the  close  of  December;  the  others  early  the  next  year. 

This  year,  the  Cherokee  mission  was  threatened  with  ciurokees.  Removal 
serious  evils,  if  not  utter  extinction,  by  the  action  of  the  """"'"'■ 
general  government.     The  subject  is  thus  noticed  in  the  minutes  of  the 
Prudential  Committee : 

"Feb.  6.  In  consequence  of  avithentic  intelligence  of  measures,  intended 
to  issue  in  the  removal  of  the  Cherokee  nation  and  the  other  Indian  tribes  from 
this  side  of  the  Mississippi  into  the  wide  wilderness  west  of  that  river,  and  of  a 
delegation  of  the  Cherokees  being  on  their  way  to  Washington  to  seek  relief 
for  their  nation,  deeply  perplexed  and  distressed  by  those  measures,  the  Com- 
mittee, after  serious  deliberation, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Corresponding  Secretary  be  appointed  to  go  to  Wash- 
ington, and  requested  to  commence  his  journey  as  soon  as  possible,  to  confer 
with  the  delegates  of  the  Cherokees  as  to  the  best  means  of  securing  to  them 
the  benefits  of  Christian  instruction,  and  to  the  Board  the  full  and  permanent 
value  of  its  establishment  in  the  Cherokee  country  ;  and  to  do  all  in  his  power 
to  promote  the  objects  of  the  Board  in  regard  to  the  improvement  of  the  In- 
dians generally." 

'■'■April  6.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  made  a  report  of  his  agency  at 
Washington  in  behalf  of  the  Cherokees,  and  for  the  promotion  of  the  general 
design  of  the  Board  for  civilizing  and  evangelizing  the  Indian  nations.  The 
sense  of  the  Commitee  was  kindly  expressed  as  follows : 

'■'  Jiesoli'ed,  That  we  feel  it  to  be  a  duty  to  acknowledge,  with  devout  grati- 
tude to  God,  the  conclusion  of  (he  late  treaty  Avith  the  Cherokees ;  as  it  appears 
to  be  the  commencement  of  a  system  of  more  liberal  and  enlarged  policy  on  the 
part  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  towards  the  Indian  tribes  within 
our  borders,  and  to  afford  a  reasonable  hope  that  they  may  become  civilized, 
Christian,  and  happy  communities. 

"But  it  is  our  more  particular  duty  to  express  our  gratitude,  tliat  by  the 
mission  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  to  Washington,  this  Committee  and 
the  Board  have  enjoyed  the  great  privilege  of  aiding  in  the  accomplishment 
of  so  great  and  desirable  an  object.  The  Committee  most  cordially  approve 
the  faithful  and  laborious  services  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  in  the  con- 

11 


82  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1819. 

duct  of  this  agency.  And  they  would  make  grateful  mention  of  the  kindness 
of  Providence'in  leading  to  the  mission,  and  in  the  favorable  circumstances 
which  attended  it  to  its  close." 

These  transactions  need  to  be  more  fully  explained. 

It  appears  from  the  preamble  of  the  treaty  at  the  Cherokee  Agency , 
which  was  the  fifteenth  treaty  between  the  Cherokees  and  the  United 
States,  and  which  was  made  by  Gen.  Jackson  and  other  Commissioners  of 
the  United  States  government,  with  the  Chiefs  of  the  nation,  July  8, 1817, 
that  a  deputation  from  the  Cherokees  visited  Washington  in  1808  ;  that 
the  deputies  from  the  Upper  Towns  signified  to  the  President  "  their  anx- 
ious desire  to  engage  in  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  and  civilized  life,  in 
the  country  they  then  occupied ;  that  the  deputies  from  the  Lower  Towns 
wished  to  pursue  the  hunter  hfe,  and  with  this  view  to  remove  across 
the  Mississippi;  that,  therefore,  the  Upper  Towns  wished  for  a  division 
of  the  country,  by  which  they  should  be  secured  in  the  permanent  en- 
joyment of  the  lands  on  the  Hiwassee;"  and  that,"  by  thus  contracting 
their  society  within  narrow  limits,  they  [the  Upper  Towns]  proposed  to 
begin  the  establishment  of  fixed  laws  and  a  regular  government."  The 
constitution  of  this  "  regular  government,"  the  reader  has  already  been 
informed,  was  adopted  early  in  September,  1808.  The  preamble  further 
states,  that  the  President,  on  the  9th  of  January,  1809,  declared  the 
readiness  of  the  United  States  to  grant  the  wishes  of  both  parties ;  that, 
accordingly,  with  his  sanction,  an  exploring  party  had  been  sent  to  the 
west,  and  a  country  selected  for  the  future  residence  of  the  Cherokees 
who  chose  to  remove.  The  treaty  which  followed  this  preamble,  pro- 
vided for  the  exchange  of  a  part  of  the  Cherokee  country  for  lands  se- 
lected beyond  the  Mississippi.  Now,  however,  in  18 19,  the  Committee 
were  informed  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  United  States  government 
to  procure  an  entire  exchange  of  lands,  and  to  remove  the  whole  Che- 
rokee nation,  as  well  as  other  Indian  tribes,  to  the  west,  beyond  the  or- 
ganized states  and  territories.  The  great  body  of  the  Cherokees  were 
miwilling  to  remove,  but  were  apprehensive  that  it  would  be  rendered 
iaevitable.  They  sent  a  deputation  to  Washington,  to  avert  the  doom 
they  feared.  There  the  Corresponding  Secretary  met  them,  and  united 
his  eflforts  with  theirs.  The  result  was,  the  treaty  for  which  the  Com- 
mittee recorded  their  solemn  vote  of  thanksgiving.  The  preamble  states, 
that  "  the  greater  part  of  the  Cherokee  nation  have  expressed  an  earnest 
desire  to  remain  on  this  side  of  the  Mississippi ;"  and  that  they  wish  "  to 
commence  those  measures  which  they  deem  necessary  to  the  civilization 
and  preservation  of  their  nation."  The  treaty  cedes  a  large  tract  of 
land  to  the  United  States,  in  full  satisfaction  for  all  lands  on  the  Ar- 
kansas, given  to  the  emigrating  part  of  their  nation ;  reserving  out  of 
that  tract,  100,000  acres,  as  a  school  fund,  to  be  sold  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States  ;  the  proceeds  to  be  invested 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  annual  income  to  be  ap- 
plied "  to  diffuse  the  benefits  of  education  among  the  Cherokee  nation 


1819.]    PRESIDENT  Monroe's  visit,     additions  to  the  church.  83 

on  this  side  of  the  Mississippi."  This  treaty  was  negotiated  by  Mr. 
Calhoun,  and  duly  ratified  by  the  President  and  Senate.  It  secured  to 
the  Cherokees  who  did  not  choose  to  emigrate,  the  remainder  of  their 
country  in  perpetuity.  Hicks,  who  had  been  much  depressed  while  strug- 
gling, with  feeble  hopes,  against  the  influence,  intrigue  and  bribery,  which 
he  found  at  work  to  effect  the  removal  of  his  people,  was  full  of  joy  and  gra- 
titude to  God,  and  confident  expectation  of  good  to  the  Cherokees.  The 
result  of  the  deputation  to  Washington  was  made  known  at  the  national 
council  on  the  11th  of  May.  The  hopes  of  the  nation  were  raised,  and 
schools  and  missions  were  regarded  with  a  new  degree  of  favor,  as  the 
most  important  means  of  their  anticipated  improvement. 

The  mission  expected  a  visit  from  President  Monroe,  p„,i,ient  Monroe'. 
then  on  the  southern  part  of  his  grand  tour  through  the  ^""' 
United  States ;  but  they  were  not  aware  of  his  near  approach,  when,  on 
the  27th  of  May,  he  was  announced  as  at  the  door.  He  examin- 
ed the  farm,  buildings,  schools,  every  thing  pertaining  to  the  mission. 
Having  seen  the  whole,  and  inquired  minutely  and  familiarly  concerning 
every  part,  he  expressed  his  decided  approbation  of  the  plan  and  its  exe- 
cution, and  of  the  conduct,  progress  and  prospects  of  the  children.  They 
were  just  finishing  a  log  cabin  for  the  use  of  the  girls.  He  said  that 
such  buildings  were  not  good  enough,  and  told  them  to  build  a  good  two 
story  house,  Avith  brick  or  stone  chimneys  and  glass  windows,  at  the 
public  expense ;  and  before  leaving,  gave  them  a  letter  to  the  U.  S. 
agent,  directing  him  to  pay  the  balance  of  their  account  for  the  build- 
ings already  erected,  and  for  that  which  he  advised. 

In  November,  this  mission  Avas  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  Messrs. 
Abijah  Conger,  John  Vaill  and  John  Talmage,  with  their  families,  from 
New  Jersey. 

The  spiritual  prosperity  of  the  mission  continued.  The  Adriiuons  to  the 
whole  number  gathered  from  this  wilderness  into  the  ^'""'''''"  ■'"'""^"'^ 
church,  before  the  close  of  this  year,  including  four  or  five  of  African 
descent,  was  about  20,  Others,  in  different  parts  of  the  nation,  were 
known  to  be  seriously  attentive  to  divine  things,  and  there  were  some 
who  appeared  to  have  been  truly  born  again.  The  Moravian  mission 
at  Springplace  partook  of  this  season  of  refreshing.  One  of  the  converts 
admitted  at  Brainerd  deserves  particular  notice.  His  name  was  John 
Arch.  He  was  born  and  had  always  lived  near  the  white  settlements 
on  the  borders  of  North  Carolina.  According  to  his  own  account,  he 
had  attentled  school  for  a  short  time  in  his  childhood,  and  had  learned  to 
spell  a  little.  After  he  left  school,  he  had  a  desire  to  learn  to  read,  and 
studied  his  spelling-book  at  times  till  it  was  worn  out ;  after  which  he 
had  nearly  forgotten  the  little  that  he  once  knew.  Being  at  Knoxville 
last  Christmas,  he  saw  Mr.  Hall,  and  heard  from  him,  that  a  school  had 
been  established  for  the  instruction  of  the  Cherokees.  He  determined  to 
come ;  and  after  travelling  150  miles  on  foot  in  seven  days,  arrived  at 
Brainerd  on  the  26th  of  January.  He  did  not  know  his  own  age,  but 
supposed  it  to  be  about  25.     He  could  converse  in  English,  and  his 


84  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1819. 

countenance  indicated  a  mind  capable  of  improvement ;  but  he  had  the 
dress  and  dirty  appearance  of  the  most  uncuhivated  part  of  his  tribe ; 
and  his  age  and  wild  and  savage  aspect  seemed  to  mark  him  as  one  unfit 
for  admission  to  the  school.  But  it  was  difficult  to  refuse  him.  He 
readily  agreed  to  the  terms  of  admission  and  continuance.  He  cheer- 
fully sold  his  gun,  his  only  property,  and  the  dearest  treasure  of  an  In- 
dian, to  procure  suitable  clothing.  He  was  admitted  on  trial.  He  ap- 
plied himself  diligently  to  his  studies,  and  made  good  proficiency.  He 
soon  showed  a  thoughtful  concern  for  his  soul,  and  appeared  desirous  to 
know  the  way  of  life,  and  to  walk  in  it.  In  October,  his  father  came 
to  take  him  away ;  but  at  the  earnest  request  of  John  and  his  instructers, 
after  staying  a  few  days  and  becoming  acquainted  with  the  mission, 
willingly  permitted  him  to  remain.  In  November,  he  was  examined  as 
a  candidate  for  admission  to  the  church,  and  employed  as  an  interpreter 
to  Mr.  Butrick.  At  this  time  he  said  that  he  often  felt  inclined  to  tell 
the  Indians  about  God  and  the  Savior,  but  he  knew  so  httle  that  he 
thought  it  would  not  please  God ;  and  he  desired  to  obtain  an  education, 
that  he  might  be  able  to  do  it.     He  was  baptized  the  next  April. 

Some  preparations  were  made  this  year  for  commencing  the  system 
of  local  schools.  Applications  for  such  schools  had  been  received  from 
several  parts  of  the  nation.  Taloney,  about  60  miles  southeast  from 
Brainerd,  had  been  selected  as  a  station,  and  such  progress  had  been 
made  in  the  preparatory  work,  that  Mr.  Hall  removed  his  family  into  the 
unfinished  buildings  in  November. 

Choctaw  Mission  About  the  beginning  of  the  year,  Mr.  Kingsbury,  su- 

streugtheued.  perlntendcnt  of  the  Choctaw  mission,  met  Miss  Sarah  B. 
Varnum  and  Miss  Judith  Chase  at  New  Orleans,  where  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Varnum.  They  arrrived  at  Elliot,  February  1.  Mr.  A.  V.  Wil- 
liams had  arrived  a  few  days  before.  In  July,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Chase.  His  devoted  and  useful  labors  were  terminated  by  his  death,  of 
a  fever,  on  the  6th  of  September.  On  the  first  of  August,  Dr.  William 
W.  Pride,  of  Cambridge,  N.  Y.,  and  Mr.  Isaac  Fisk,  of  Holden,  Mass., 
Blacksmith  and  Farmer,  arrived  at  Elliot;  and  on  the  last  of  that  month, 
Mr.  Kanouse,  having  finished  the  term  for  which  he  engaged  in  the  mis- 
sion, returned  with  his  family  to  his  former  residence.  During  the 
whole  year,  the  strength  of  the  mission  was  broken  by  the  sickness  of 
some  of  its  members. 

Church  formed.  Thc    mlssion    church   was    organized    on   the    28th 

of  March,  with  ten  members,  all  of  w^hom  were  members  of  the  mis- 
sion. The  school  w^as  opened  on  the  19th  of  April,  with  ten  scholars. 
The  necessary  buildings  had  not  been  erected ;  but  eight  children  had 
been  brought  160  miles,  expecting  to  find  all  things  ready ;  and  it  was 
thought  best  to  begin.  The  Choctaws  were  told  that  but  20  could  be 
received  "  till  dry  corn  come  plenty,"  in  October,  and  then  but  40 ;  but 
the  importunities  of  parents  and  children  broke  over  these  limitations, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  year  the  school  contained  60  pupils,  of  whom  16 
could  read  the  Bible  with  propriety  and  ease. 


1819.]  FIRST   MISSION   TO   THE   SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  85 

The  Choctaws  made  liberal  appropriations  for  the  sup-  choctaw  spprojiria- 
port  of  the  school.  The  chief  Puck-sha-nub-bee  early  ""'"' 
gave  $200,  out  of  an  annuity  due  to  his  part  of  the  nation  from  the 
United  States.  In  August,  after  a  "  talk"  from  Mr.  Kingsbury,  a  coun- 
cil appropriated  $700  from  an  annuity,  and  $'600  was  raised  by  sub- 
scription, besides  85  cows  and  calves  for  the  support  of  the  mission,  of 
which  54  were  soon  after  collected.  In  September,  a  council  of  the 
Lower  Towns  voted  unanimously  to  appropriate  $2,000  a  year,  their  share 
of  the  annuity,  payable  quarterly  for  17  years,  for  the  support  of  a  school 
in  their  district. 

Mr.  Kingsbury's  annual  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  which  w^as 
required  as  a  basis  for  the  distribution  of  the  fund  appropriated  by  Con- 
gress for  the  civilization  of  the  Indians,  was  made  in  October.  It  states 
that  within  about  14  months,  there  had  been  erected  at  Elliot  seven  com- 
modious log  cabins,  occupied  as  dwelling-houses;  a  dining-room  and 
kitchen,  of  hewed  logs,  52  feet  by  20,  with  a  piazza  on  each  side ; 
a  school-house,  36  feet  by  24 ;  a  mill-house,  36  feet  by  30 ;  a  lumber- 
house  and  granary,  each  18  feet  by  20 ;  a  blacksmith's  shop,  stable,  and 
three  other  out-houses.  Between  30  and  40  acres  of  land  had  been 
cleared  and  fenced ;  and  between  20  and  30  had  been  successfully  cul- 
tivated with  Indian  corn,  potatoes,  and  other  kinds  of  food.  There  be- 
longed to  the  mission  7  horses,  10  steers,  75  cows,  75  calves  and  young 
cattle,  and  about  30  swine.  The  family,  including  missionaries,  pupils 
and  hired  laborers,  numbered  76. 

The  mission  to  the  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas  was  Arkansas  Mission. 
attempted  this  year,  but  not  commenced.  By  direction  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee,  the  Rev.  Alfred  Finney  and  Rev.  Cephas  Wash- 
burn, both  from  Vermont,  met  at  Brainerd  early  in  November.  On 
the  30th  of  that  month,  they  commenced  their  journey  through  the  wil- 
derness to  Elliot;  where,  after  almost  incredible  difficulties  and  dangers, 
from  flooded  swamps  and  overflowing  creeks,  from  wet  and  cold  and 
hunger,  they  arrived  on  the  3d  of  January.  There,  where  their  help 
Avas  needed  and  was  highly  useful,  the  inclemency  of  the  season,  which 
had  retarded  their  progress,  compelled  them  for  a  M'hile  to  remain. 

In  October,  the  first  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  sandwich  uunds 
were  sent  out.  At  the  request  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  ^^ "'""'' 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  Hiram  Bingham  and  Asa  Thurston  were  ordained  for 
this  service,  by  the  North  Consociation  of  Litchfield  County,  Ct.,  Sept. 
29.  On  the  15th  of  October,  the  mission  church  was  formed.  The 
exercises  were  performed  in  the  Park  Street  vestry.  The  members  were, 
the  two  missionaries  already  named,  and  their  wives;  Mr.  Daniel  Cham- 
berlain, Farmer,  Dr.  Thomas  Ilolman,  Physician,  Mr.  Samuel  Whitney, 
Mechanic  and  Schoolmaster,  Mr.  Samuel  Ruggles,  Catechist  and 
Schoolmaster,  and  Mr.  Elisha  Loomis,  Printer  and  Schoolmaster,  with 
their  wives;  and  John  Honoree,  Thomas Hopu,  and  William  Tennooee, 
natives  of  the  Islands,  who  had  been  educated  at  the  Foreign  Mission 
School  at  Cornwall,  and  who  were  attached  to  the  mission  as  teachers ', 


86  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1820, 

in  all,  17  members.  They  embarked  on  the  23cl,  on  board  the  brig 
Thaddeus,  accompanied  by  George  Tamoree,  the  son  of  one  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  Islands,  who  had  been  educated  with  his  young  countrymen  at 
Cornwall.  The  way  for  this  mission  had  been  wonderfully  prepared  by 
Divine  Providence ;  more  wonderfully,  and  more  effectually,  as  the  his- 
tory of  the  next  year  will  show,  than  was  even  suspected  at  the  time  of 
its  departure. 

MiEMoi,  10  Palestine.  Thc  first  mlssionarics  of  the  Board  to  Palestine,  Rev. 
Levi  Parsons  and  Pliny  Fisk,  embarked  very  soon  afterwards.  They 
sailed  from  Boston,  November  3,  in  the  ship  Sally  Ann,  and  entered 
the  harbor  of  Malta  on  the  23d  of  December.  Here,  detained  on 
board  their  ship  by  the  quarantine  regulations,  they  enjoyed  the  kind 
and  useful  attentions  of  Dr.  Naudi  and  Rev.  Messrs.  Jowett  and  Wilson, 
which  made  the  closing  days  of  this  year  "  among  the  happiest  of  their 
lives." 


CHAPTER    XII. 


1820. — Annual  Meeting  at  Hartford. — Missionary  Herald. — Foreign  Mission 
School. — Baron  Campagne. — Progress  of  the  mis.gion  at  Bombay. — Leave  to 
visit  the  interior  refused;  but  afterwards  granted. — Mr.  Bardwell's  health 
fails. — New  stations  occupied  in  Ceylon,  at  Oodooville  and  Panditeripo. — 
Pecuniary  embarrassments. — Mr.  Garrett  sent  from  the  Island. — Progress 
of  the  Cherokee  mission. — School  and  Church  at  Creek  Path.— National 
Council. — Hardships  of  the  Chociaw  mission. — Mayhew. — Choctaws  appro- 
priate their  annuities. — JMessrs.  Finney  and  Washburn  visit  the  Cherokees 
of  the  Arkansas. — Sketch  of  the  Sandwich  Islands. — The  mission  arrives. — 
Its  reception,  and  the  locations  of  ils  members. — Palestine  mission  arrives  at 
Smyrna. — Visit  to  Scio. — Professor  Bambas. — Return  to  Smyrna. — Mr.  Par- 
sons sails  for  Palestine. 

The  eleventh  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  Hartford, 
Ct.,  on  the  20th  and  21st  of  September.  The  officers  of  the  last  year  were 
re-elected.  During  the  year  ending  August  31,  the  payments  from  the 
treasury  had  amounted  to  $57,420,93.  The  receipts  were,  from  donations, 
$36,582,64;  from  other  sources,  $3,751,87;  total,  $40,334,51;  leav- 
ing a  deficiency  of  $17,086,42,  to  be  made  up  from  the  surplus  contri- 
buted in  former  years.  The  deficiency  arose  in  part  from  the  heavy  ex- 
penses of  sending  out  23  male  and  13  female  missionaries  and  assistants, 
and  partly  from  the  unusual  pecuniary  pressure  which  the  whole  country 
was  then  suffering.  The  donations,  however,  exceeded  those  of  any 
former  year  by  about  $2,600.  Clothing,  too,  and  other  articles  for  the 
use  of  the  several  missions,  had  been  contributed  to  the  estimated  value 
of  about  $6,000,  and  the  Choctaw  nation  had  appropriated  its  annuity  of 
$6,000  a  year  for  16  or  17  years  to  the  support  of  the  missions  in  their 
country.     And  yet  there  had  been  even  less  labor  of  agents  and  direct 


1820.]  BOMBAY   ]\IISSION.  87 

efforts  to  raise  funds,  than  in  former  years.     The  result,  therefore,  show- 
ed a  great  increase  of  missionary  zeal  and  liberality. 

At  this  meeting,  the  Prudential  Committee  were  directed  to  publish 
the  Missionary  Herald  at  the  expense  of  the  Board.  Hitherto,  agreea- 
bly to  a  proposal  made  by  Mr.  Evarts,  its  editor,  at  the  second  annual 
meeting,  the  profits  of  the  \vork,  after  deducting  a  reasonable  amount  for 
editing,  had  been  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  missions  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Board.  It  had  contained,  besides  an  account  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Board  and  its  missions,  much  other  religious  intelligence, 
and  much  able  theological  and  literary  discussion.  It  was  noAV  thought 
best  to  make  it  strictly  an  official  publication,  for  which  the  Board 
should  be  responsible,  and  to  exclude  from  it  all  subjects  but  the  trans- 
actions of  the  Board  and  its  missions,  and  of  kindred  societies.  By  this 
arrangement,  the  Board  was  enabled  to  send  missionary  intelligence, 
unincumbered  with  other  matter,  to  its  patrons,  and  to  others  whom  it 
might  be  desirable  to  inform. 

The  Foreign  Mission  School  reported  29  pupils.  Of  the  31  heathen 
youth  who  had  been  admitted  to  its  privileges  since  its  establishment, 
17  had  given  satisfactory  evidence  of  piety ;  and  several  others  were 
now  thoughtful  on  religious  subjects.  This  school  excited  a  lively  in- 
terest, even  in  foreign  lands.  The  Baron  de  Campagne,  of  Basle, 
Switzerland,  wrote  to  its  Principal,  inclosing  a  donation  of  ^212,  and 
requesting  a  letter  from  one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  youths.  The  next 
year,  the  Baron  made  a  donation  to  the  Board,  of  $'664. 

At  Bombay,  the  tours  for  preaching  were  continued  ;  Bombay  Mission. 
and  it  was  found  practicable  to  collect  small  assemblies  at  the  stations 
in  that  city  and  on  Salsette,  for  several  evenings  in  succession,  to  hear 
Christian  instruction.  At  the  close  of  the  year,  the  mission  had  21 
schools,  containing  about  1,050  scholars,  who  were  learning  to  under- 
stand and  respect  Christianity.  In  several  instances,  when  the  brethren 
wished  to  visit  the  continent  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  the  schools, 
passports  were  refused  by  the  new  Governor,  the  Hon.  Mountstuart 
Elphinstone.  He  expressed  to  Mr.  Bardwell  his  approbation  of  the 
general  object  of  the  schools,  but  feared  that  too  rapid  advances  would 
be  made  against  the  prejudices  of  the  natives.  He  afterwards  gave 
Mr.  Hall  permission  to  pay  them  a  single  visit,  and  requested  a  written 
statement  of  their  object,  character  and  management.  This  was  soon 
given.  It  was  declared  satisfactory,  and  the  Governor  expressed  his 
willingness  that  they  should  continue  their  visits ;  but  he  suggested 
some  cautions,  lest  the  Brahmuns  should  find  a  pretext  for  complaining 
of  interference  with  their  religion. — The  press  continued  its  operations, 
and  for  a  considerable  part  of  the  year,  more  than  defrayed  its  expenses 
by  the  profits  of  work  (lone  for  individuals  and  for  the  Committee  of  the 
Christian  Knowledge  Society. — The  mission  sufl^'ered  much  from  sick- 
ness. Mr.  Bardwell  had  been  repeatedly  attacked  by  the  liver  com- 
plaint; and  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  the  brethren  and  their  phy- 
sicians considered  it  fully  proved  that  he  could  not  live  and  labor  in  that 


88 


HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1820. 


climate.     It  was  their  unanimous  advice  that  he  should  immediately 

return  home. 

In  Ceylon,  Governor  Brownrigg  readily  gave  permis- 

Ceylon.      Further  J  '  .  ..'-"'.  ■•         i\^~ 

eDiargement.  gjgjj  ^0  thc  ucwly  amvcd  missionaries  to  remam  in  tne 

Island.  They  therefore  made  arrangements  without  delay  for  the  vigor- 
ous prosecution  of  their  work.  The  buildings  at  Oodooville,  once  the 
residence  of  a  Franciscan  Friar,  were  repaired,  and  in  June  became  the 
station  of  Messrs.  Winslow  and  Spaulding.  It  was  important  that  Dr. 
Scudder  should  be  stationed  at  Panditeripo ;  but  as  the  disposable  funds 
of  the  mission  were  not  sufficient  to  make  the  necessary  repan-s,  he 
advanced  the  requisite  amount  from  his  own  property,  to  be  afterwards 
refunded,  should  his  family  need  it.  Having  been  licensed  as  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel,  by  the  ordained  missionaries  regularly  assembled  m  eccle- 
siastical council,  he  removed  from  Tillipally  to  his  station  in  July.  Mr. 
Woodward  was  stationed  with  Mr.  Poor  at  Tillipally.  This  year,  three 
members  were  added  to  the  church. 


Mission  Premises  at  Oodooville,  Ceylon. 


The  mission  was  also  strengthened  by  the  returnmg  health  of  its 
older  members.  Mr.  Meigs  and  Mr.  Poor  were  restored  to  usual 
strength ;  and  even  Mr.  Richards,  contrary  to  expectation,  was  so  lar 
restored  as  to  be  able  to  render  important  services.  .     ,    ,  , 

But  the  energies  of  the  mission  were  crippled  by  pe- 
rrr-'  arra,.,e.     ^  embarrassmcuts.     The  low  state  of  the  treasury  at 

home  and  the  demands  of  other  missions  compelled  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee to  be  frugal  in  their  appropriations.  The  support  of  heathen 
children  with  names  assigned  by  their  benefactors  was  a  popuiar  charity 
and  an  undue  proportion  of  funds  was  devoted  by  the  donors  to  tha 
object;  many  seeming  to  forget  that  missionaries  could  not  board  and 
educate  heathen  children,  unle^ss  the  missionaries  themselves  were  sup- 
ported,  and  buiklincrs  provided  for  their  residence.  The  evil  v^  as  in- 
creased by  the  difficulty,  delay  and  uncertainty  of  remittances  It  was 
of  no  use  to  draw  bills  on  the  Board ;  for  as  the  Board  was  unknown  to 


1820.]  MR.    GARRETT   ORDERED   TO   LEAVE   THE   ISLAND.  89 

the  mercantile  community,  the  bills  could  not  be  sold.  Money  could  be 
borrowed  only  at  high  rates  of  interest,  and  at  the  hazard  of  loss  of 
character  by  inability  to  pay  at  the  stipulated  time.  The  transportation 
of  Spanish  dollars  was  expensive,  and  their  seasonable  arrival  uncertain ; 
and  if  sent  so  long  in  advance  as  to  guard  effectually  against  embarrass- 
ments, the  interest  on  many  thousands  of  dollars  for  long  terms  of  time 
must  be  lost.  The  missionaries  therefore  suggested  the  expediency  of 
opening  a  credit  wuth  some  house  in  Calcutta,  on  which  the  missions  in 
India  might  draw  for  the  suras  due  them,  as  their  necessities  should  re- 
quire. Such  are  some  of  the  embarrassments  which  attend  the  support 
of  distant  missions,  by  associations  that  are  young  in  years  and  little 
known.  The  Board  has  long  since  overcome  them.  Its  credit  is  estab- 
lished throughout  the  East,  and  its  bills  are  as  good  there  in  the  money- 
market,  as  those  of  the  best  banking-houses  in  Great  Britain,  and  are 
quoted  at  the  same  rates  in  the  price-currents. 

By  the  kindness  of  friends  and  the  aid  of  other  societies,  the  delay  of 
funds  was  in  some  measure  supplied,  and  the  work  of  the  mission  was 
carried  on  with  a  good  degree  of  energy.  The  number  of  boarding 
scholars  was  enlarged,  and  several  new  free  schools  were  opened.  The 
gospel  was  preached  to  increasing  congregations.  Medical  aid  was  more 
extensively  afforded,  especially  to  the  poor  in  their  affliction.  Nor  were 
the  labors  of  the  year  wholly  unblest  by  divine  influence.  There  was 
nothing  that  could  be  called  a  revival ;  but  in  some  instances,  the  convict- 
ing and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  manifestly  present. 

Mr.  James  Garrett,  who  had  been  sent  out  as  a  mis-     .,    ^ 

,  •'  Mr.    Litirreil    or- 

sionary  prmter,  arrived  at  Tillipally  on  the  10th  of  August,  "ered^way. 
The  consent  of  the  government  to  his  residence  on  the  island  as  a  mis- 
sionary was  requested  in  a  note,  transmitted  through  the  agency  of 
Archdeacon  Twisleton.  The  Lieut.  Governor,  Sir  Edward  Barnes, 
directed  his  Secretary  to  reply,  that  the  government  did  not  deem  it 
proper  to  permit  any  increase  of  the  American  mission  in  Ceylon,  and 
that  the  request  could  not  be  granted.  The  archdeacon  returned  this 
answer,  with  expressions  of  regret.  An  order  was  soon  received,  dated 
August  24,  requiring  Mr.  Garrett  to  leave  the  island  in  three  months. 
Surprised  at  communications  so  different  in  their  tenor  from  those  for- 
merly received  from  the  government,  the  missionaries  supposed  that  Sir 
Edward  must  be  laboring  under  some  misapprehension,  which  suitable 
efforts  might  remove.  They  therefore  prepared  a  memorial,  in  which 
they  called  attention  to  the  inoffensive  and  salutary  character  of  their 
mission;  to  the  approbation  and  encouragement  it  had  received,  from 
its  first  establishment  to  the  present  time,  more  than  three  years,  from 
Governor  Brownrigg  and  other  chief  authorities  of  the  island ;  to  the 
amount  of  good  it  was  accomplishing ;  and  to  the  express  permission 
of  the  government  to  establish  a  press,  officially  given  on  the  18th  of 
June,  1816;  and  requested  that  JNIr.  Garrett  might  at  least  be  permitted 
to  remain  till  the  pleasure  of  the  king's  government  might  be  known. 
The  answer,  dated  September  24,  stated  that  the  Lieut.  Governor  was 

12 


90  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1820. 

unwilling  to  admit  any  foreign  missionaries  to  the  island  ;  that  those 
already  there  had  been  permitted  to  remain,  only  out  of  courtesy  to  his 
predecessor  ;  that  the  British  government  was  abundantly  able  to  Chris- 
tianize its  own  heathen  subjects,  and  was  making  laudable  efforts  for 
that  purpose;  that  missionaries  of  the  established  church  would  be  pre- 
ferred ;  that  if  these  were  not  sufficiently  numerous,  time  would  remove 
the  difficulty  ;  that  if  others  were  needed,  the  Wesleyans  would  be  pre- 
ferred ;  that  the  American  missionaries  would  be  better  employed,  in 
attempting  to  convert  the  heathen  on  their  own  continent;  and  finally, 
that  Mr.  Garrett  must  leave  the  island  at  the  time  appointed. — As,  on 
account  of  the  monsoons,  it  was  difficult  to  leave  the  island  at  that  sea- 
son, another  memorial  was  sent,  requesting  permission  for  Mr.  Garrett 
to  remain  two  months  beyond  the  appointed  time,  in  a  private  capacity. 
In  this  memorial — not  as  the  foundation  of  any  request,  but  in  justice  to 
themselves  and  the  Board — the  brethren  replied  at  some  length  to  the 
Governor's  suggestions. 

After  mentioning  the  efforts  of  the  Board  and  others  for  the  benefit 
of  the  American  Indians,  which  were  greater  in  proportion  to  the  hea- 
then population,  by  forty  to  one,  than  all  the  Christian  world  was 
making  for  British  India ;  and  noticing  the  fact  that  the  American  con- 
tinent, with  about  one  sixteenth  of  the  heathen  population  of  the  globe, 
had  more  than  half  the  missionaries  in  the  world,  they  continued : — 

"  The  reasons  more  particularly,  which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the 
American  mission  in  Ceylon,  were  the  small  mmiber  of  missionaries  on  the 
island,  at  the  lime  the  mission  was  formed,  and  the  friendly  disposition  of  gov- 
ernment. At  the  time  the  American  missionaries  arrived,  there  were  but  five 
Wesleyan  missionaries  on  the  island — one  Baptist  missionary,  and  not  one  of 
the  present  number  of  missionaries  of  the  established  church.  Indeed  there 
were  then  but  two  regularly  ordained  missionaries  of  the  Church  of  England, 
on  this  side  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  though  the  undersigned  are  happy  to 
know,  that  their  number  has  since  very  much  increased.  The  friendly  dispo- 
sition of  government  was  particularly  manifest,  in  the  very  kind  invitation 
given  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Newell,  (an  American  missionary  now  settled  ai  Bombay, 
who  visited  the  island  before  the  present  mission  was  formed,)  not  only  by 
several  of  the  most  respectable  gentlemen  in  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  service, 
but  by  his  excellency  himself,  to  take  up  his  residence  on  the  island.  As  Mr. 
Newell  did  not  remain,  he  represented  these  things  to  his  patrons,  that  others 
might  be  sent  out.  Among  other  particulars,  in  his  communications,  he  stated, 
that,  '  His  Excellency  Governor  Brownrigg  has  been  pleased  to  say,  that  he 
is  authorized  by  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colo7iies  to  encourage  the  eflbrts 
of  all  respectable  ministers.''  It  was  very  much  in  consequence  of  this  encour- 
agement, that  the  mission  to  Ceylon  was  undertaken  ;  and  it  is  in  view  of  con- 
siderations similar  to  the  above  mentioned,  that  it  continues  to  be  supported." 

"  They  are  aware  that  some  objections  may  be  made  against  them,  on 
account  of  their  not  having  received  Episcopal  ordination ;  but  as  they  have 
all  passed  through  a  course  of  collegiate  education,  in  literature,  science  and 
theology ;  and  as  they  have  been  ordained  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
churches  to  which  they  belong,  they  would  hope,  that  no  great  weight  might 
be  attached  to  this  objection;  especially  as  the  greatest  proportion  of  the  mis- 
sionaries employed  both  by  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  by  the  Society 
for  propagating  Christian  Knowledge,  supported  almost  exclusively  by  mem- 
bers of  the  EstabUshment,  are  not  only  foreigners,  but  such  as  have  not  re- 


1820.]  NEW   SCHOOLS    OPENED   AMONG    THE    CHEROKEES.  91 

• 

ceived  regular  ordination  in  the  Episcopal  Churcli.  If,  however,  the  present 
number  of  missionaries  from  the  established  chorch  were  adequate,  (as  the 
Honorable  the  Lieutenant  Governor  seems  to  tliink  they  may  not  be,)  the 
undersigned  would  feel  the  propriety  of  employing  no  other ;  but  since  to  give 
even  the  native  subjects  of  His  iVIajestyin  India  the  same  advantages  for  reli- 
gious instruction  as  are  enjoyed  by  the  inhabitantsof  England,  and  no  greater, 
would  require  not  less  than  30,000  missionaries,  or  nearly  five  times  the  num- 
ber of  regularly  ordained  clergymen  in  England  and  Wales,  they  would  ex- 
press their  fears,  that  much  time  must  elapse,  and  many  generations  must  go 
down  to  the  grave,  before  an  adequate  supply  of  such  missionaries  can  be  ob- 
tained ;  and  they  would  hope,  that  however  they  may  fall  below  those  with 
whom  they  do  not  pretend  to  compare,  they  may  be  allowed  the  privilege  of 
being  humble  coadjutors  in  a  work,  which  is  very  dear  to  their  hearts." 

The  Secretary  replied,  that  the  time  of  Mr.  Garrett's  departure  could 
not  be  deferred,  and  that  the  Governor  "  could  not  enter  into"  the  other 
parts  of  the  memorial.  His  decision  to  abstain  from  attempting  to 
answer  those  arguments,  was  evidently  judicious.  It  will  not  be  easy  to 
find,  in  any  language,  a  document  so  perfectly  respectful,  and  yet  so 
unanswerably  convicting  the  ruler  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  of  gross 
ignorance  and  sophistry. 

Nothing  now  remained,  but  for  Mr.  Garrett  to  obey  the  order  that 
had  been  given.  He  left  the  Island,  and  in  December  was  with  the  Da- 
nish missionaries  at  Tranquebar,  doubtful  whether  to  aid  the  brethren  at 
Ceylon  in  extending  their  mission  to  the  Tamul  people  on  the  Coro- 
mandel  coast,  or  to  join  the  mission  at  Bombay. 

Among   the    Aborigines   of  our   own   continent,   the    chemkec.    n.* 
work  went   forward.     A  few  leading  facts,    with    their    schools  opened. 
dates,  will  show  the  character  of  its  progress  among  the  Cherokees. 

On  the  20th  of  February,  John  Arch  was  admitted  as  a  member  of 
the  Church  at  Brainerd.  On  the  4th  of  March,  Mr.  Brown,  the  father 
of  Catherine,  presented  a  letter  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  neighbors, 
requesting  the  establishment  of  a  school  at  Creek  Path.  On  the  8th,  it  was 
resolved  that  Mr.  Butrick  should  go  to  open  the  school,  attended  by  John 
Arch  as  an  assistant.  On  the  1 1th  they  set  forth.  On  the  12th,  which  was 
the  Sabbath,  three  native  converts,  David  and  Catherine  Brown  and 
sister  McDonald,  held  a  religious  conference  in  the  Cherokee  language, 
with  visitors  who  could  not  understand  English.  About  this  time,  Mr. 
John  Ross  brought  a  request  from  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Fort  Armstrong,  that  a  school  might  be  established  among  them.  Mr. 
Chamberlain  visited  that  neighborhood,  to  examine  its  eligibility  for  a 
local  school,  and  returned  with  a  favorable  report.  It  was  accordingly 
resolved  to  establish  a  school  on  the  Chatooga ;  and  Milo  Hoyt,  who  had 
been  married  in  February  to  Lydia  Lowry,  the  pious  and  intelligent 
daughter  of  the  chief  with  whom  Mr.  Kingsbury  first  conversed  at 
Washington,  set  out  on  the  3d  of  April  to  open  it.  A  small  log  house 
was  immediately  selected  for  his  residence,  and  the  Cherokees  began 
without  delay  to  build  a  school-house.  On  the  13th  of  April,  a  letter 
was  received  from  Mr.  Butrick,  giving  an  interesting  account  of  the  zeal 
shown  by  the  people  at  Creek  Path,  in  making  preparations  for  the 


92  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMEKICAN   BOARD.  [1820. 

• 

school,  and  in  attending  upon  religious  instruction.  April  20,  news  was 
received  of  the  good  attendance  on  worship,  increasing  seriousness  and 
one  or  two  conversions  at  Creek  Path.  The  people  there  were  anxious 
for  a  female  school,  and  otlered  to  build  a  house  for  it.  May  8,  Cathe- 
rine Brown  was  advised  to  go  as  a  teacher,  whenever  the  house  should 
be  finished.  The  people  were  overjoyed  when  they  heard  this,  and  im- 
mediately began  to  build  the  house.  On  the  last  day  of  May,  she  left 
Brainerd,  in  company  of  her  father,  to  take  charge  of  the  school.  July 
2,  Milo  Hoyt  united  with  the  church.  On  the  12th,  Mr.  Butrick  arrived 
at  Brainerd,  leaving  John  Arch  and  Catherine  Brown  in  charge  of  the 
schools.  Catherine's  father  and  mother  and  brother  and  brother's  wife 
and  two  sisters,  and  several  others,  it  was  hoped,  had  been  truly  convert- 
ed to  God.  In  September,  a  church  was  organized  at  Creek  Path ;  and 
at  the  close  of  that  month,  the  work  was  still  going  on.  October  17, 
intelligence  was  received  from  Mr.  Hall  at  Taloney.  The  school  was 
prosperous. 

During  this  month,  the  General  Council  of  the  Cherokee  nation  was 
held.  Its  proceedings  showed  a  great  advance  in  civilization,  and  en- 
couraged bright  hopes  for  the  future.  It  was  decided  that  children  sent 
to  the  mission  schools,  ought  to  remain  long  enough  to  acquire  an  edu- 
cation that  would  make  them  useful ;  and  that  parents  who  should  take 
their  children  away  prematurely,  must  pay  the  expense  of  support  while 
there.  The  missionaries  were  authorized  to  select  the  most  suitable  pu- 
pils, to  serve  apprenticeships  at  the  most  useful  mechanic  arts.  The  na- 
tion was  divided  into  eight  districts,  a  tax  laid  to  build  a  court-house  in 
each,  and  four  circuit  judges  appointed  to  administer  justice. 
Choctaw  Mission.  Thc  Choctaw  mission  continued  to  be  afflicted  and  weak- 

ened by  intermittent  fevers  and  other  diseases,  arising  in  part  from  the 
climate,  but  more  from  the  privations  and  hardships  incident  to  a  new 
settlement  in  the  wilderness.  Their  supplies  had  to  be  procured  at  dis- 
tances of  150, 200,  and  even  1500  miles,  and  to  be  brought  through  many 
miles  of  forests  without  roads,  or  by  creeks,  navigable  only  for  flat  boats 
when  swollen  by  rains.  Their  letters  were  lodged  at  Post-offices  75, 
100  and  150  miles  distant.  In  May,  Mr.  Kingsbury  went  out  wuth  two 
men,  to  lay  out  a  wagon  road  to  Pigeon  Roost,  60  miles  distant,  towards 
the  place  selected  for  a  new  station,  and  in  the  direction  from  which  a 
great  part  of  their  supplies  must  come.  In  marking  and  opening  this 
road,  about  65  day's  works  were  expended  by  the  mission,  and  the  rest 
was  done  by  Capt.  Folsom,  one  of  the  Choctaws.  On  the  10th  of  June 
the  work  was  finished ;  and  on  the  14th,  the  first  wagon  ever  seen  in 
that  part  of  the  country  arrived  at  Elliot,  with  2000  yards  of  homespun 
cotton  cloth,  much  needed  by  the  natives,  for  sale.  The  wagoner  was 
from  Tennessee.  He  had  seen  Messrs.  Kingsbury  and  Williams  in  1818, 
when  on  their  way  to  the  Choctaw  country ;  and  from  his  long  acquaint- 
ance wuth  the  Indians,  had  pronounced  their  undertaking  hopeless. 
Now,  after  staying  two  days  at  Elliot,  witnessing  the  improvement  of 
the  children  in  learning  and  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  having  his 


1820.]  STATION   AT   MAYHEW.       CHOCTAW    APPROFEIATIONS.  93 

wagon  repaired  at  the  workshop,  he  acknowledged  his  surprise  at  the 
results,  confessed  his  former  error,  and  left  a  donation  of  fifteen  dollars  to 
the  mission. — A  large  reinforcement,  sent  overland  to  their  aid,  was  de- 
tained by  various  unexpected  causes,  till  after  the  end  of  the  year.     Mr. 
Zechariah  Howes  and  Mr.  Anson  Dyer,  after  a  long  river  passage,  ar- 
rived on  the  first  of  July,  and  were  immediately  employed  in  directing 
the  labor  of  the  boys   in   the  corn-field   and   in  clearing  new  land. 
Their  companion,  Mr.  Joel  Wood,  was  left  sick  near  Walnut  Hills.     His 
wife  remained  with  him ;  and  it  was  not  till  the  close  of  September,  after 
several  dangerous   relapses,  that  he   was  able  to   reach  Elliot.     The 
Rev.  Alfred  Wright,  having  been  long  expected,  arrived  in  December. 
One  new  station  was  commenced  this  year.     In  Feb-  siaUunatMayhew. 
ruary,  Mr.  Kingsbury  set  forth  to  select  a  site  and  make  preparations. 
In  a  little  more  than  a  week,  he  reached  the  residence  of  Major  Pitchlynn, 
a  white  man  with  a  Choctaw  family  and  large  possessions.     On  the 
21st,  he  went  with  Major  Pitchlynn  and  Capt.  Folsom  to  select  a  site 
for  building.     They  intended  to  return  that  night,  but  the  distance  was 
too  great.     A  large  creek,  swollen  by  recent  rains,  frustrated  their  at- 
tempts to  reach  the  house  of  a  native.    But  one  course  remained.   They 
collected  some  dry  grass  for  a  bed,  and  without  food  or  fire,  and  with 
no  covering  but  the  branches  of  the  forest  trees,  having  committed 
themselves  to  the  protection  and  guidance  of  God,  they  slept  and   were 
refreshed.     On  the  23d,  this  very  spot  was  selected  for  the  station  after- 
wards called  Mayhew.     It  w^as  on  the  border  of  an  extensive  prairie, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Ook-tib-be-ha  creek,  about  12  miles  from  its 
junction  wiih  the  Tombigbee,  and  on  the  boundary  line  between  the 
Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  nations.     Workmen  were  immediately  em- 
ployed ;  and  after  living  about  four  weeks  in  a  wet  and  smoky  camp, 
such  as  could  be  made  in  the  wilderness  in  a  few  hours,  he  was  enabled 
to  remove  into  his  new  house  of  logs,  22  feet  long  and  20  wide,  on  the 
23d  of  March.     In  June,  a  garden  and  yards  for  cattle  had  been  pre- 
pared, and  more  than  20  acres  were  that  season  planted  with  corn  and 
potatoes.     On  the  14th  of  November,  Mr.  Kingsbury  and  his  wife  left 
Elliot,  to  take  up  their  abode  permanently  at  the  new  station. 

But  they  had  much  to  encourage  them,  in  the  friend-  choctaw  appropria- 
ship  of  the  Choctaws,  and  their  zeal  for  the  education  of  ""'" 
their  children.  More  pupils  were  urged  upon  them  than  could  be 
received.  In  March,  they  were  obliged  to  refuse  two,  whom  their 
mother  had  brought  150  miles;  and  similar  applications  and  refusals 
were  frequent  during  the  year.  March  21,  the  district  of  the  Six 
Towns,  in  council,  resolved  to  appropriate  their  annuity,  of  $2,000  an- 
nually, to  the  support  of  a  school  and  blacksmith's  shop  in  their  district, 
under  the  direction  of  the  mission,  and  that  the  United  States  agent  pay 
over  the  sura  quarterly ;  which  was  the  same  day  communicated  to  Mr. 
Kingsbury  by  Push-ma-ta-ha,  the  chief  of  the  district,  and  Major  Pitch- 
lynn, the  interpreter.  On  the  2d  of  June,  Puck-sha-nub-be,  chief  of  the 
district  of  the  Upper  Towns,  and  Mush-oo-la-tub-be,  of  the  Lower 


94  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1820. 

Towns,  yisited  Elliot.  The  next  clay,  Puck-sha-nub-be  said  he  was  an 
old  man,  but  said  he  was  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  do  some  good  before 
his  death ;  and  he  announced  the  appropriation  of  the  annuity  of  his 
district  for  the  support  of  the  mission.  On  the  4th,  the  two  chiefs  dic- 
tated a  letter  to  Dr.  Worcester,  announcing  the  appropriation  of  the 
"whole  annuity  of  the  three  districts,  amounting  to  $6,000  a  year  for  16 
years,  to  the  support  of  the  mission.  Interested  attention  was  also  paid 
to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  through  an  interpreter.  Captain  Folsom 
said  that  the  leading  men  of  the  Choctaws,  by  their  acquaintance  with 
religious  people,  had  discovered  that  they  were  friendly  to  the  red  peo- 
ple, and  wished  to  do  them  good;  that  the  good  book  had  taught  good 
white  people  thus  to  love  all  mankind  ;  and  that,  for  this  reason,  many 
of  the  Choctaws  wished  to  know  what  w^as  in  that  good  book,  that 
produced  such  effects. 

But  the  immense  labors  of  the  preparatory  work,  necessary  to  the 
preservation  of  life  while  teaching  the  natives,  occupied  nearly  all  the 
strength  of  the  company,  and  left  but  little  ability  to  give  instruction  of 
any  kind.  In  his  annual  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  December, 
Mr.  Kingsbury  states  that  60  acres  of  land  had  been  brought  under  im- 
provement, a  horse-mill,  joiner's  and  blacksmith's  shops  and  22  other 
buildings  erected,  and  other  means  of  support,  comfort  and  usefulness 
collected  and  created,  to  the  value  of  more  than  $11,000.  The  number 
belono-ing  to  the  school  was  80,  of  whom  but  six  were  absent.  About 
50  acres  of  corn  and  potatoes  had  been  cultivated,  principally  by  the 
labor  of  the  boys. 

The  mission  suffered  a  great  loss  on  the  19th  of  September,  in  the 
death  of  Mr.  Fisk,  who  had  for  some  time  been  ill.  Their  journal  says : 
"  In  laborious  industry,  in  patient  self-denial,  in  pious  example,  in  holy 
and  ardent  devotion  of  soul  and  body  to  the  missionary  cause,  he  was 
pre-eminent."  The  Choctaws  came  around  him  in  his  last  hours,  say- 
ing that  "  the  good  man  is  going  to  die,  and  we  have  come  to  see  him." 
He  told  them,  "  Be  not  discouraged.  God  had  a  little  work  for  me  to 
do  here,  and  I  have  done  it,  and  am  going  to  leave  you.  He  will  send 
other  men  to  teach  your  children." 

cheroueos  of  the  ^be  hardshlps  of  the  mission  to  the  Cherokees  of  the 

Arkansas.  Arkausas  were  not  at  an  end.     Being  detained  by  the 

badness  of  the  travelling,  and  the  defeat,  after  much  hardship,  of  an 
attempt  to  reach  their  destination,  Messrs.  Finney  and  Washburn  re- 
mained with  the  Choctaw  mission,  w^ith  their  wives  and  Miss  Minerva 
Washburn,  where  they  rendered  important  and  much  needed  aid  through 
the  winter.  May  16,  the  brethren  left  Elliot,  and  in  four  days,  having 
slept  on  the  bare  ground  without  shelter  two  nights,  arrived  at  Walnut 
Hills.  Here  they  took  passage  in  a  steam-boat  for  the  mouth  of  White 
river,  and  thence,  by  the  kindness  of  Col.  Davis,  in  a  keel-boat  to  Arkan- 
sas Post,  where  they  arrived  June  2.  A  war  between  the  Cherokees 
and  Osages  was  expected,  and  Gov.  Miller  was  absent,  endeavoring  to 
prevent  it.     On  the  14th  he  returned,  having  persuaded  the  parties  to 


1820,]  SKETCH   OF   THE    SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  95 

keep  the  peace  till  fall.  He  approved  the  object  of  the  mission,  and 
promised  it  his  countenance  and  aid.  On  the  17th  their  hired  men  and 
horses  from  Elliot  arrived,  exhausted  by  fatigue  and  want  of  food. 
The  next  day  they  were  joined  by  their  assistant  missionaries,  Mr.  Jacob 
Hitchcock  and  Mr.  James  Orr.  Two  days  after,  they  set  forward  on 
foot.  Mr,  Finney  first,  and  three  of  the  others  after  him,  were  taken  with 
fever  and  ague,  brought  on  by  fatigue  and  exposure.  But  their  journey 
must  be  continued,  and  on  the  12th  of  July,  Mr.  Washburn  and  one  of 
the  men  arrived  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Loveley,  the  widow  of  the  former 
agent  of  the  U.  S.  government.  Here,  in  about  a  week,  they  were 
visited  by  John  Jolly,  the  principal  chief  of  these  Cherokees.  They 
told  him  that  they  were  the  missionaries  who  had  been  promised,  some 
two  years  before,  to  Tollontiskee.  The  chief  received  the  information 
with  joy.  On  the  1 9th  of  August,  a  council  of  the  nation  was  held. 
The  brethren  attended,  and  made  known  the  plan  of  the  proposed  mis- 
sion. The  chiefs  invited  them  to  remain,  and  to  select  such  a  place  as 
they  should  prefer  for  their  buildings.  A  place  was  chosen  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Arkansas  Creek,  about  five  miles  from  the  Arkansas  river. 
Having  built  a  log  house,  20  feet  square,  and  made  some  arrangements 
for  the  means  of  subsistence,  they  set  out,  October  3,  on  their  return  to 
Elliot.  Their  sufferings,  on  their  return  were  much  the  same  as  on 
their  advance.  They  arrived  at  Walnut  Hills,  December  13.  Contin- 
uing their  journey,  on  the  iSth  their  progress  was  arrested  by  a  swollen 
creek.  They  had  no  axe,  and  no  food ;  and  without  crossing  the  creek, 
none  could  be  obtained  within  60  miles.  On  the  20th,  a  company  of 
men  with  pack  horses,  loaded  with  corn  and  meat,  arrived,  and  were 
detained  with  them  till  the  23d.  Their  wants  being  thus  providentially 
supplied,  and  a  passage  being  efTected  across  the  creek,  in  two  days 
more  they  joined  their  wives  and  friends  at  Elliot  j  having  endured, 
without  shrinking,  greater  bodily  hardships  than  had  yet  come  upon  any 
missionaries  of  the  Board ;  hardships  which  would  have  cooled  the 
ardor  of  almost  any  worldly  man,  in  pursuit  of  almost  any  object. 

This  year,  the  mission  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  com-  ,,.|,^  sandwich 
menced  its  operations.  This  is  the  most  northeastwardly  '''^'"''' 
and  one  of  the  largest  of  those  numerous  groups  of  islands  that  fill  the 
tropical  regions  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  from  the  coast  of  Asia  and  New 
Holland,  almost  to  the  western  coast  of  America.  They  are  situated  in 
about  20  degrees  north  latitude,  and  160  west  longitude  from  Green- 
wich. They  are  chiefly  composed  of  lava,  thrown  up  from  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  by  volcanic  fires,  bordered  with  masses  of  coral,  and  of 
crystalized  carbonate  of  lime,  which  many  have  mistaken  for  coral. 
Their  surface  is  diversified  with  fertile  valleys,  rocky  and  barren  hills, 
frightful  chasms  and  mountainous  peaks,  some  of  which  rise  15,000  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  ocean.  The  inhabitants  are  of  the  same  race  as 
those  of  New  Zealand,  the  Society  Islands,  and  the  other  groups  gene- 
rally, that  lie  east  of  the  180th  degree  of  longitude  from  Greenwich. 
Their  form,  features,  complexion,  language,  and  many  of  their  religious 


96  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1820. 

customs,  betray  their  relationship  to  the  Malays  of  Southern  Asia.  The 
absolute  despotism  of  petty  chiefs,  ferocious  wars,  human  sacrifices, 
polygamy,  licentiousness  and  infanticide  have  long  been  depopulating 
these  islands.  The  remains  of  ancient  works  on  many  islands  of  the 
Pacific  testify  the  former  existence  of  a  population,  not  highly  civilized, 
indeed,  but  far  more  numerous,  intelligent  and  powerful,  than  has  been 
there  within  the  period  reached  by  distinct  and  credible  tradition.  Since 
the  introduction  of  new  vices  by  visitors  of  European  descent,  the  work 
of  destruction  has  gone  on  with  accelerated  rapidity.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands  were  estimated,  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago, 
at  400,000.  This  was  doubtless  a  very  great  exaggeration,  occasioned, 
in  part,  by  counting  over  repeatedly,  at  different  points  on  the  coast,  the 
same  multitudes,  who  flocked  from  place  to  place  to  gaze  upon  the 
strangers.  Still,  the  population  was  doubtless  much  greater  than  now, 
when  a  census,  known  to  be  very  near  the  truth,  shows  but  108,468. 
The  fact  is,  in  every  part  of  the  heathen  world,  heathenism  has  passed 
its  season  of  vigor,  and  is  producing  the  appropriate  fruits  of  its  old 
age.  In  every  country  where  it  prevails,  the  progress  of  mind  is  arrested, 
and  energy  of  character  is  destroyed ;  and  in  many,  its  own  vices,  aided 
by  the  vices  which  it  greedily  borrows  from  other  lands,  are  consuming 
the  inhabitants,  and  leaving  the  land  desolate  for  want  of  men  to  till 
it. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  have  been  represented  as 
superior  to  those  of  most  of  the  kindred  groups.  They  had  received 
some  benefit,  as  well  as  injury,  from  their  intercourse  with  foreigners. 
Their  convenient  position  procured  them  many  visits  from  ships  engaged 
in  the  whaling  business,  and  in  trade  to  China  and  the  northwest  coast 
of  America.  It  is  asserted  that  American  merchants  have  resided  there 
ever  since  1786,  only  eight  years  after  their  first  discovery  by  Capt.  Cook. 
Kamehameha,  who  had  gradually  reduced  all  the  islands  to  a  consoli- 
dated government  under  himself,  and  who  was  supposed  to  be  the  king 
when  the  missionaries  sailed,  was  a  man  of  uncommon  capacity,  and 
knew  how  to  avail  himself  of  all  these  advantages.  He  built  forts,  and 
mounted  guns  upon  them.  He  had  soldiers  armed  with  muskets,  and 
drilled  after  the  fashion  of  Europe.  He  created  a  navy.  The  keel  of 
his  first  ship,  as  it  was  called,  was  laid  for  him  by  Capt.  Vancouver,  in 
1792 ;  and,  before  his  death,  their  number  is  said  to  have  been  increas- 
ed to  more  than  twenty,  some  of  which  were  copper-bottomed.  He 
encouraged  the  mechanic  arts,  and  grew  rich  by  commerce. 

Under  his  reign,  several  of  the  chiefs  grew  intelligent,  learned  to 
converse  intelligibly  in  the  English  language,  and  assumed  the  dress 
and  many  of  the  hatjlts  of  civilized  life.  But  the  people  were  the  slaves 
of  the  chiefs,  and  both  chiefs  and  people  the  slaves  of  the  king.  What- 
ever fruits  of  labor  or  of  skill,  or  other  possession,  a  superior  chose  to 
take,  the  inferior  must  give  up  without  a  murmur.  Whatever  task  the 
superior  imposed,  the  inferior  must  perform.  The  bones  of  this  dis- 
tinguished chief  were  preserved  and  worshipped.     Some  of  the  bones  of 


1820.]  SKETCH   OF   THE   SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  97 

Capt.  Cook  were  kept  for  that  purpose.  The  priests  must  be  fed,  honor- 
ed and  obeyed,  lest  the  offender  shoukl  be  designated  as  the  next  victim 
to  be  sacrificed  to  their  shapeless  gods.  All  trembled  with  superstitious 
fear,  lest  their  enemies  should  secretly  pray  them  to  death,  or  employ 
others  more  skilful  to  do  it.  Even  Kamehameha  himself  was  afraid  to 
let  the  priests  get  possession  of  his  spit-box,  lest  they  should  injure  him 
by  their  enchantments.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  priests,  frequent  tabus 
were  proclaimed,  forbidding  all  persons  to  engage  in  certain  specified 
sports  or  employments,  or  to  eat  certain  kinds  of  food,  for  a  specified  time, 
on  penalty  of  death.  Rumors  of  better  things  had  sometimes  reached 
them.  Vancouver  had  told  them  that  teachers  would  come  to  instruct 
them,  to  whom  they  must  listen.  Foreign  residents  and  visitors  told 
them  something  of  the  better  condition  of  other  countries,  and  of  the 
folly  of  worshipping  senseless  blocks.  But  the  reign  of  idolatry  remain- 
ed unbroken. 

An  influence  from  another  source  was  more  effectual.  The  mission- 
aries of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  after  many  years  of  apparently 
fruitless  labor  and  frequent  hazard  of  their  lives  in  the  Society  Islands, 
had  seen  the  whole  system  of  idolatry  give  way  before  the  gospel.  The 
converted  natives  themselves  became  devoted  missionaries,  and  the  gos- 
pel spread  from  one  island  and  from  one  group  to  another,  with  a  rapid- 
ity unexampled  since  the  days  of  the  apostles.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  all  these  converts  were  spiritually  regenerated.  They  had  been 
held  under  the  dominion  of  their  old  idolatry  by  terror.  They  were  now 
told  that  their  idols  could  neither  help  or  injure  them.  The  native 
Christians,  especially,  openly  defied  the  heathen  gods.  They  subjected 
the  idols  to  various  indignities  ;  sawed  them  in  pieces  and  burned  them 
before  the  eyes  of  their  worshippers,  and,  to  the  astonishment  and  con- 
viction of  the  heathen,  remained  uninjured.  They  told  their  half  con- 
vinced countrymen,  that  it  was  better  for  all  to  live  and  interchange  kind 
offices,  than  for  some  to  offer  others  in  sacrifice  to  blocks  of  wood  ; 
better  for  parents  to  rear  and  love  their  children,  than  to  kill  them  ; 
better  to  worship  Jehovah,  obey  his  laws,  and  acquire  the  arts  and  com- 
forts of  civilization,  than  to  continue  slaves  to  their  old  superstition. 
When  once  delivered  from  the  fear  of  their  gods,  they  could  not  but  see 
the  truth  of  these  instructions.  They  resolved  to  receive  Christianity, 
and  thanked  Jehovah  for  sending  his  servants  to  teach  them  this  better 
way.  Many,  who  thus  received  Christianity  in  the  gross,  would  fail  to 
carry  out  its  strict  moral  requirements  in  the  various  relations  and  trans- 
actions of  life,  and  would  apostatize;  but  many  who  thus  trustingly  re- 
ceived it,  would  prove  in  time  to  be  truly  enlightened  and  converted  ; 
the  general  habits  of  society  would  be  changed ;  and  the  people  would 
have  passed  the  line  which  divides  pagan  barbarism  from  Christian 
civilization.  Such  had  been  the  efTect,  and  the  fame  of  it  had  reached 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  Seamen  who  visited  both  regions,  told  of  the 
change  that  had  taken  place  at  the  south ;  how  the  idols  had  been  de- 
stroyed, the  oppressive  tabus  disregarded,  and  the  new  doctrine  received  ; 

13 


98  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1820. 

and  how  the  former  wretchedness  had  disappeared,  and  a  happier  state 
commenced.  In  the  summer  of  1818,  one  of  the  London  missionaries 
wrote  from  Tahiti,  that  the  American  brig  Clarion  was  about  to  take 
home  several  natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  who  had  been  learning 
the  word  of  God  :  and,  doubtless,  there  were  other  instances  of  the  kind. 
Thus,  gradually,  and  in  various  ways,  the  idea  was  introduced  among 
the  more  intelligent,  of  a  beneficial  change,  connected  with  the  rejec- 
tion of  idolatry,  and  the  adoption  of  a  nev;  religion.  To  this  impression, 
the  knowledge  that  Obookiah,  Tamoree,  and  others,  were  acquiring  a 
Christian  education  in  America,  intending  to  return  as  teachers  to  their 
countrymen,  must  have  contributed  not  a  little.  While  at  Cornwall, 
Tamoree,  though  not  considered  truly  pious,  had  written  a  very  excellent 
letter  to  his  father,  in  which  he  exposed  the  folly  of  idolatry,  and  urged 
the  excellence  of  the  Christian  religion.  But  nothing  could  be  done ; 
for  Kamehameha  was  king  and  high  priest,  and  all  the  observances  of 
idolatry  were  rigidly  enforced. 

Kamehameha  died,  aged  about  70,  May  8,  1819.  On  his  death-bed 
he  requested  an  American,  present,  to  tell  him  plainly  about  the  religion 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  Christian's  God;  "but,"  said  the  young  native, 
who  gave  the  account,  with  tender  interest,  "  he  no  say  any  thing  about 
it ;"  and  this  wonderful  man  died  without  the  knowledge  he  desired. 
His  son,  Liholiho  succeeded  him,  both  as  king  and  as  high  priest.  The 
American  missionaries,  it  will  be  recollected,  sailed  from  Boston  on  the 
23d  of  October.  Early  in  November,  the  young  king,  having  consulted 
with  some  of  the  chiefs  and  priests,  resolved  to  strike  a  decisive  blow. 
For  men  to  eat  with  women  was  one  of  the  many  acts  that  were  tahu, 
that  is,  prohibited  by  their  religion  on  pain  of  death.  On  a  day  select- 
ed for  that  purpose,  while  the  women  of  the  royal  household  were  dining, 
he  went  in  boldly  and  took  his  seat  among  them.  Some  one,  who  ob- 
served it,  exclaimed  that  the  tabu  was  broken.  He  rose  and  declared 
the  system  abolished.  Forthwith,  by  his  orders,  the  malaes,  or  sacred 
enclosures,  were  set  on  fire,  and  while  they  were  burning,  the  idols  were 
thrown  down,  stripped  of  the  cloth  that  hung  over  them,  and  cast  into 
the  flames.  The  work  went  on  rapidly  throughout  the  islands.  Some 
of  the  priests  promised  a  petty  chief,  that  if  he  would  restore  the  old  re- 
hgion,  he  should  be  king.  He  raised  the  standard  of  civil  war;  but 
after  a  short  contest,  and  the  loss  of  40  or  50  men,  he  was  subdued,  and 
the  idolatry  which  had  crushed  this  people  for  unnumbered  ages  was  at 
an  end.  In  conversation  with  the  commanders  of  American  vessels,  the 
chiefs  and  people  of  all  the  islands,  and  especially  Tamoree,  the  father 
of  George,  expressed  their  earnest  desire  for  the  arrival  of  missionaries. 
Arrivnioithe  Thc  misslonarics  were  already  on  their  way.  On  the  30th 

Mission.  ^£  ]\/[gj.p|-,^  {-j^gy  £,,g|-  g^^  j^j^g  cloud-capt  mountains  of  Hawaii. 

As  they  coasted  along  its  northern  shores,  Thomas  Hopu  pointed  out  the 
little  valley  where  he  was  born.  As  they  passed  round  the  northern  ex- 
tremity of  the  island  towards  the  west,  the  bold  and  lofty  heights  of  Maui 
appeared  on  their  light.     As  no  canoes  approached  them,  they  supposed 


1820.]  RECEPTION   OF   THE   MISSIONARIES.  99 

it  to  be  a  season  of  special  tabu,  and  that  all  the  people  were  emplo)'ed 
in  observing  its  horrid  and  degrading  rites.  Mr.  Hunnewell,  one  of  the 
mates,  with  Hopu,  Honoree,  and  others,  were  sent  on  shore  in  a  boat, 
to  make  inquiries  concerning  the  king  and  the  state  of  the  islands.  In 
a  few  hours  they  returned  with  the  astounding  intelligence,  that  Karae- 
hameha  was  dead,  that  Liholiho  had  succeeded  him,  that  the  gods  had 
been  burned,  and  the  whole  system  of  idolatry  destroyed.  The  work 
which  was  expected  to  consume  years  of  severe  and  dangerous  mission- 
ary labor,  was  done.  These  isles  were  literally  waiting  for  Jehovah's 
law.  The  missionaries  would  have  to  contend  only  with  the  native 
depravity  of  the  human  heart,  and  inveterate  habits  of  ignorance,  indo- 
lence and  vice,  among  a  people  who  were  looking  for  them  as  teachers 
of  better  things. 

The  next  day,  Mr.  Ruggles,  Hopu  and  George  Tamoree  Perm.ssio,,  to  bn,i. 
visited  Kalairaoku,  who  had  been  regarded  by  foreign  visitors  as  prime 
minister  of  Kamehameha,  and  called  Billy  Pitt,  and  who  still  retained 
much  of  his  former  influence.  They  were  gladly  and  hospitably  received ; 
and  by  them  the  widows  of  the  late  king  sent  presents  of  hsh  and  other 
provisions  on  board  the  ship.  On  the  4th  of  April,  accompanied  by  the 
prime  minister,  they  entered  the  harbor  of  Kailua,  and  were  introduced 
to  the  king,  to  whom  they  read  the  letters  and  gave  the  presents  from 
the  Board,  designed  for  his  predecessor.  The  question  whether  they 
should  be  received  and  permitted  to  remain  as  teachers,  was  deferred, 
to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  several  chiefs,  and  especially  of  Kaahumanu, 
the  favorite  wife  of  Kamehameha,  and  the  most  influential  woman  on 
the  islands.  On  the  8th,  it  was  decided  that  the  whole  company  might 
land  and  reside  for  a  year  at  Kailua,  where  the  king  was  disposed  to 
keep  them  near  his  own  person,  and  a  house  belonging  to  the  former 
king  was  assigned  for  their  temporary  residence.  It  was  thought  more 
expedient  that  a  part  of  the  mission  should  settle  at  Oahu  ;  and,  on  the 
11th,  the  king  gave  his  consent.  He  wished,  however,  that  Dr.  Hol- 
man,  Tennooee  and  Hopu  should  remain  at  Kailua ;  anti,  as  the  pres- 
ence of  an  ordained  missionary  was  desirable,  Mr.  Thurston  was 
designated  by  lot.  The  next  day,  the  baggage  of  this  party  was 
lancled,  and  late  in  the  evening  the  king  was  found  busy  at  his  book, 
having  been  engaged  for  two  or  three  days  in  learning  to  read.  The 
same  evening,  the  Thaddeus  sailed  with  the  rest  of  the  company  for 
Honolulu,  in  Oahu,  the  principal  port  in  the  islands,  where  they  arrived 
on  the  second  day.  Capt.  Winship,  at  Boston,  had  given  them  an  or- 
der to  his  agent,  to  put  them  in  possession  of  his  house  at  Honolulu, 
and  on  the  19th  they  took  up  their  abode  in  it.  Early  in  May,  the 
Thaddeus  sailed  for  Kauai,  to  carry  George  to  his  father;  and,  at  his 
request,  Messrs.  Whitney  and  Ruggles  accompanied  him.  The  old 
chief  received  his  son  with  excessive  joy ;  and  though,  as  he  said,  he 
was  so  glad  that  he  could  not  talk  much  that  day,  he  loaded  with 
thanks  the  good  people  who  had  been  his  friends,  and  the  captain  who 
had  brought  him  home.     He  was  delighted  with  the  acquisitions  his 


100  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1820. 

son  had  made.  The  next  day,  he  gave  him  two  chests  of  clothing ; 
the  next,  a  fort ;  the  next,  a  large  and  fertile  valley ;  and  in  a  few  days 
committed  to  hira,  as  second  in  command,  the  principal  concerns  of  the 
island.  Tamoree  offered  to  furnish  houses  and  land  for  the  whole 
mission,  if  they  would  settle  in  Kauai ;  and  to  build  houses  for  schools 
and  for  worship  at  his  own  expense,  and  to  have  his  people  keep  the 
Sabbath,  and  sing,  and  pray  to  the  God  of  America.  Understanding, 
one  day,  that  they  were  about  to  return  to  Oahu,  he  and  his  wife  spent 
the  night  in  sleepless  anxiety,  and  earnestly  expostulated  with  them  in 
the  morning.  They  regained  their  cheerfulness,  only  on  being  assured 
that  teachers  were  to  be  furnished  for  them  as  soon  as  practicable. 
This  promise  was  soon  fulfilled.  After  returning  and  consulting  with 
the  brethren,  Messrs.  Whitney  and  Ruggles  were  stationed  at  Kauai  in 
July.  Tamoree  proved  himself  a  firm  and  efficient  friend. 
House  at  Bcoiuiu.  At  Houolulu,  thc  govcmor,  Boki,  appeared  dilatory 
about  erecting  the  expected  houses  to  accommodate  the  mission.  At 
the  suggestion  of  some  friendly  captains  of  vessels  then  in  port,  a  pub- 
lic meeting  was  called  on  the  10th  of  May,  of  natives  and  foreign  resi- 
dents and  visitors,  to  devise  measures  in  aid  of  the  mission.  When  the 
erection  of  houses  was  mentioned,  Boki  said  that  he  had  orders  from 
the  king  to  build  them  free  of  expense,  and  he  dechned  receiving  any 
assistance  in  doing  it.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  consult  respecting 
the  place,  form  and  manner  of  building.  The  raising  of  a  "  school  fund 
for  orphan  children"  was  suggested,  approved,  and  a  committee  appoint- 
ed ;  and  then  this  first  meeting  of  the  kind  ever  held  on  the  islands,  ad- 
journed. By  the  close  of  the  year,  this  fund  amounted  to  more  than 
$600,  and  nearly  all  the  foreign  residents  were  subscribers.  In  June, 
the  building  of  a  house  was  commenced.  The  timber  was  brought  15 
or  20  miles  on  the  shoulders  of  the  natives,  while  the  untrained  horses 
and  oxen  looked  on  at  their  ease. 

Two  painful  occurrences  marred  the  happiness  of  the  year.  Wil- 
liam Tennooee  rapidly  fell  into  the  immoral  practices  of  his  countrymen, 
and,  on  the  23d  of  July,  was  publicly  excommunicated  from  the  church. 
Dr.  Holman,  contrary  to  the  unanimous  advice  and  request  of  the  breth- 
ren, left  them,  and  went  to  reside  on  the  island  of  Maui,  more  than 
80  miles  from  any  of  them.  This  they  considered  an  abandonment  of 
the  mission.  He  wrote  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary,  assigning  rea- 
sons for  his  removal,  which  were  not  deemed  satisfactory.  A  letter  from 
Mr.  Bingham,  of  the  31st  of  January,  1821,  mentions  his  excommuni- 
cation, for  "  walking  disorderly,  slander  and  railing,  and  covetousness." 

George  Tamoree  appears  to  have  been  made  somewhat  giddy  by 
his  sudden  elevation,  and  to  have  lost  something  in  steadiness  of  cha- 
racter ;  but  he  continued  friendly  to  the  mission.  Honoree  was  laborious 
and  useful ;  and  Hopu  acquired  the  epithet  of  "  the  faithful."  He  be- 
came a  favorite  and  habitual  attendant  on  the  king.  He  found  his 
father  alive,  and  desirous  of  instruction ;  and  soon  removed  him  and  his 
family  to  a  house  near  the  royal  residence,  where  he  assiduously  sought 
their  good. 


1820,]  PALESTINE.      MISSION   AT   SMYRNA   AND   SCIO.  101 

The  king  was  unwilling  that  the  common  people  should  be  taught 
to  read  till  he  had  learned ;  but  was  willing  that  the  chiefs  should  be 
taught  immediately.  The  zeal  of  many  of  them  was  remarkable,  and 
their  progress  rapid.  In  July,  the  king  could  read  the  New  Testament 
intelligibly.  In  November,  the  mission  had  four  schools ;  one  of  8,  one 
of  14,  one  of  30,  and  one  of  40  pupils.  Sustained  by  the  king  and 
chiefs,  they  enjoyed  favor  with  all  the  people.  Foreign  residents,  and 
commanders  of  vessels  in  port,  were  friendly  and  obliging ;  and  many 
of  them  were  usually  present  at  public  worship  on  the  Sabbath.  The 
mission  excited  general  interest,  wherever  the  report  of  it  was  heard. 

Of  the  mission  to  Palestine,  this  year  affords  but  little  Puiesune  mission  at 
to  record.  After  remaining  a  few  days  in  the  harbor  with-  ^'">'"^''"''scio. 
out  landing,  on  account  of  the  quarantine  regulations,  and  being  fur- 
nished with  valuable  letters  of  introduction,  Messrs.  Fisk  and  Parsons 
left  INIalta,  and  arrived  at  Smyrna  on  the  14th  of  January.  They  were 
courteously  received  by  Mr.  Lee,  Rev.  Mr.  Williamson  the  British  chap- 
lain, Messrs.  Perkins,  Van  Lennep,  and  others.  On  the  7th  of  Febru- 
ary, with  Mr.  Williamson,  who  called  upon  them  for  that  purpose,  they 
attended  the  first  Monthly  Concert  for  Prayer,  as  they  supposed,  ever 
held  in  the  Turkish  dominions.  On  the  1st  of  May,  they  left  Smyrna 
for  Scio,  for  the  purpose  of  studying  modern  Greek  at  its  flourishing 
college.  On  their  arrival,  Prof.  Bambas  gladly  offered  them  his  ser- 
vices as  their  teacher,  and  during  their  residence  on  the  island,  he  entered 
into  their  plans  with  a  degree  of  intelligence  and  zeal,  that  greatly  en- 
deared him  to  the  friends  of  learning  and  piety  in  this  country.  In 
June,  they  engaged  the  printing  of  a  Greek  tract,  made  up  of  evangeli- 
cal passages  from  the  writings  of  Chrysostom.  Prof.  Bambas  accom- 
panied them,  when  they  went  to  distribute  these  tracts  in  schools  and 
at  the  college,  bearing  testimony  to  their  excellence,  and  urging  a  se- 
rious perusal  of  them.  The  tracts  were  widely  disseminated.  A  teacher 
from  Crete  requested  and  received  a  quantity  for  his  school.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  college  received  100,  which  he  promised  to  distribute  at  Thes- 
salonica,  where  he  belonged.  The  "  Dairyman's  Daughter"  was  also 
translated  into  Modern  Greek,  under  the  inspection  of  Prof.  Bambas. 
He  was  much  aflected  by  the  narrative,  and,  while  examining  the  trans- 
lation, was  frequently  obliged  to  stop  and  give  way  to  tears.  The  Mo- 
dern Greek  New  Testament  was  also  distributed,  both  gratuitously  and 
by  sale,  especially  among  the  ecclesiastics.  During  the  latter  part  of 
their  residence  here,  a  number  of  children  and  youth  practised  calling 
upon  them  on  the  Sabbath,  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and  receive  instruc- 
tion in  divine  truth.     In  October,  they  returned  to  Smyrna. 

The  greater  part  of  November  was  consumed  in  making  a  tour  of 
Asia  Minor,  during  which  they  visited  sites  of  the  Seven  Cliurches  ad- 
dressed in  the  Apocalypse ;  acquiring  and  imparting  information,  and 
distributing  Testaments  and  Tracts. 

On  their  return  to  Smyrna,  the  British  Chaplaincy  was  temporarily 
vacant.     The  use  of  the  chapel  and  the  chaplain's  rooms  was  offered 


102  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1821. 

them,  and  the  Messrs.  Van  Lennep  proposed  to  hoard  one  of  them  gra- 
tuitously. It  was  determined  that  Mr.  Fisk  should  remain,  and  Mr. 
Parsons  proceed  alone  to  Jerusalem.  Accordingly,  he  embarked  on 
board  a  Greek  vessel,  on  the  6th  of  December,  and,  being  delayed  by 
contrary  winds,  was  still  on  his  way  at  the  end  of  the  year. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


1821. — Meeting  at  Springfield. — Death  of  Dr.  Worcester. — Deficiency  of 
Funds. — Bombay. — Mr.  Bardweli's  ruturn. — Death  of  Mr.  Newell. — Arrival 
of  Mr.  Garrett. —  Ceylon. — Dealh  of  Mrs.  Poor. — Revival. — Native  Preach- 
ers licensed. — Mr.  Parsons  visits  Palestine. — Mission  to  Armenia  suggested. 
— Greek  revolution. — Conversions  among  the  Cherokees. — An  Ark  on  the 
Mississippi. — Conversions  among  the  Choctaws. — Mission  family  arrives  at 
Dwight. — Sandwich  Islands. — Opposition  of  foreign  residents. — First  Chapel 
built." 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Springfield,  September  19  and  20. 
The  Report,  written  by  the  Treasurer,  commenced  with  an  appropriate 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Worcester.  On  the  second  day  of  the 
meeting,  the  Board  adopted  the  following  resolutions: — 

''  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Board  deeply  feel  the  afflicting  bereave- 
ment which  they  have  recently  experienced  in  the  removal  oftheir  beloved  friend 
and  associate,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Worcester,  who,  from  the  origin  of  tlie  Board,  took 
an  active  and  very  useful  part  in  its  deliberations,  and,  during  a  period  of  eleven 
years,  devoted  his  best  powers  to  its  interests.  They  desire  to  enter  on  their 
records  an  affectionate  testimon}^  to  the  patience,  disinterestedness,  zeal  and 
fidelity,  with  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  Corresponding  Secretary  of 
the  Board,  and  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee.  They  Avould  mingle 
their  tears  with  those  of  the  bereaved  family  on  this  mournful  occasion  ;  and 
would  ofier  their  tender  condolence,  while  they  point  to  those  sources  of  con- 
solation which  the  gospel  affords,  and  by  which  the  soul  of  their  departed  friend 
was  sustained  in  his  last  hours. 

'•'■  Resoloed,  That  the  Prudential  Committee  be  requested  to  erect,  in  the  bury- 
ing ground  ol'the  mission  at  Brainerd,  a  suitable  monument  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased,  with  an  inscription  expressing  the  high  regard  which  the  mem- 
bers of  tlie  Board  entertain  for  his  excellent  character  and  invaluable  services." 

The  interests  of  the  Board  had  for  some  time  demanded  a  visit  of  one 
of  its  principal  officers  to  the  southern  missions;  and  as,  in  his  own 
opinion  and  that  of  his  physicians,  Dr.  Worcester  could  not  survive  the 
winter  at  the  north,  it  was  decided  that  he  should  attempt  that  visit.  He 
accordingly  embarked  on  the  5th  of  January  for  New  Orleans,  where  he 
arrived,  much  reduced  in  strength  by  a  tempestuous  passage,  eaily  in 
February.  Here  he  was  met  by  Dr.  Pride,  who  had  come  from  Elliot 
for  that  purpose.  He  arrived  at  Mayhew,  by  way  of  Natchez,  April  23. 
He  remained  here  about  two  weeks,  rendering,  by  his  advice  and  en- 


1821.]  MISSIONARY   ROOMS.  103 

couragement,  important  services  to  the  mission.  On  the  second  Sabbath 
of  his  visit,  he  took  part  in  the  organization  of  the  mission  church.  This 
was  the  last  of  his  pubhc  services.  The  journal  of  the  mission  remarks : 
— "  His  exercises  on  this  occasion  were  peculiarly  appropriate,  solemn 
and  impressive.  His  holy  animation,  his  pure  and  elevated  devotion, 
can  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  them.  He  seemed  to  be 
at  the  threshold  of  heaven's  gate,  and  to  be  warmed  and  animated  by 
the  holy  fervor  of  the  celestial  hosts."  The  next  morning,  May  7,  he 
set  forward,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Pride,  for  the  Cherokee  nation, — health 
not  permitting  him  to  visit  Elliot,  as  he  ardently  desired.  After  pro- 
ceeding about  120  miles,  Dr.  Pride's  health  failed,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  return.  A  stranger  was  hired,  with  whose  assistance  he  arrived  at 
Brainerd  on  the  25th  of  May,  so  weak  that  he  was  carried  in  the  arras 
of  the  missionaries  from  his  carriage  to  the  house.  Here  he  rapidly  de- 
clined till  the  7th  of  June,  when,  about  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he 
cast  his  eyes  towards  heaven,  and,  smiling,  resigned  his  spirit  to  God.  On 
the  9th,  his  funeral  was  attended  by  the  members  of  the  mission,  and  by 
many  Cherokees,  who  came  from  considerable  distances  to  perform  this 
last  act  of  kindness  to  their  friend  and  benefactor.  On  his  arrival  at 
Brainerd  he  had  said,  "  I  had  rather  leave  my  poor  remains  here,  than 
at  any  other  place." 

As  a  temporary  arrangement  to  supply  the  place  of  Dr.  Worcester, 
Mr.  Evarts  was  chosen  Corresponding  Secretary,  as  well  as  Treasurer, 
for  this  year,  and  authorized  to  employ  such  assistants  as  the  amount  of 
labor  should  require.  Samuel  Hubbard,  Esq.  of  Boston  and  Rev.  War- 
ren Fay  of  Charlestown  were  added  to  the  Prudential  Committee.  Dr. 
Morse,  having  removed  to  New  Haven,  declined  re-election.  It  was  also 

"  Resolved,  That  any  clergyman,  on  paying  fifty  dollars,  and  any  layman, 
on  paying  one  hundred  dollars  at  any  one  lime,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  at- 
tending the  meetings  of  the  Board,  and  of  assisting  in  its  deliberations  as  ho- 
norary members,  but  without  the  privilege  of  voting ;  this  latter  privilege  being 
restricted  by  the  Act  of  Incorporation  to  members  elected  by  ballot." 

The  reports  from  the  Foreign  Mission  School  continued  to  be  satis- 
factory. The  number  of  pupils  was  34,  of  whom  29  were  from  heathen 
nations,  19  were  professors  of  religion,  and  five  more  were  thought  to  have 
become  religious  during  a  time  of  uncommon  seriousness  in  the  seminary. 

The  receipts  into  the  Treasury  for  the  year  ending  August  31  were 
about  ^48,000,  nearly  all  of  which  was  from  donations;  payments,  about 
$47,000,  or  i$  10,000  less  than  the  estimate  of  necessary  payments  made 
the  previous  year.  From  this  necessary  reduction  of  expenditures,  the 
missions  generally  suffered ;  more  especially,  those  among  the  Indians. 
During  the  latter  part  of  the  year,  in  answer  to  moving  appeals  from  the 
Committee,  more  liberal  contributions  were  received,  and  the  deficien- 
cies of  former  months  in  some  measure  supplied. — The  value  of  donations 
in  clothing,  furniture,  &c.,  received  for  the  various  missions,  was  estimat- 
ed at  $16,000. 


104  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1821. 

Mission:iry  Rooms.  The  busincss  of  the  BoErd  had  so  increased,  that  the 

small  room  in  the  basement  of  the  Treasurer's  house  in  Pinckney-street 
was  no  longer  sufficient  for  its  convenient  transaction,  A  suite  of  Rooms 
was  therefore  taken  at  No.  69,  Market-street,  now  Cornhill.  The  first 
meeting  was  held  in  this  place,  and  the  Rooms  consecrated  by  prayer, 
on  the  7th  of  October.  On  the  4th  of  November,  the  Committee  resolv- 
ed to  commence  the  collection  of  a  Missionary  Library,  to  be  composed 
of  works  appropriate  to  its  design  and  name.  A  notice  in  the  Herald 
for  December  invited  donations  of  books. 

The  mission  at  Bombay  suffered  heavy  losses.  Accord- 
ing to  advice  mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  last  year,  Mr. 
Bardwell  embarked  on  the  22d  of  January  for  Calcutta,  and  after  va- 
rious detentions,  arrived  at  Boston,  with  health  much  improved,  on  the 
24th  of  November.  Since  his  return,  he  has  been  engaged  in  important 
labors,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  in  connection  with  the  Board. 
At  one  time  his  return  to  India  was  seriously  contemplated  by  himself 
and  others ;  but  the  decided  advice  of  the  most  able  physicians  forbade. 
Deatii  of  Mr.  Nweii.  Jn  April,  thc  cholcra,  which,  for  about  four  years,  had 
ravaged  various  parts  of  India,  invaded  Bombay.  It  was  most  fatal  to 
the  native  population,  from  60  to  100  of  whom  it  swept  off  daily.  In  the 
latter  part  of  May,  Mr.  Newell  spent  some  days  at  Tannah,  and  with  Mr. 
Nichols,  visited  many  of  the  sick  and  dying.  On  the  28th,  he  found 
himself  slightly  indisposed.  The  next  morning  he  was  worse;  and 
about  9  or  10  o'clock,  apprehensions  were  excited  that  he  had  the  cho- 
lera. A  physician  and  other  friends  were  called  in ;  but  no  efforts  could 
arrest  the  progress  of  disease.  His  bodily  and  mental  powers  sunk  so 
rapidly,  that  conversation,  after  the  danger  had  become  apparent,  was 
almost  wholly  impossible.  At  a  quarter  past  one,  the  next  morning,  he 
ceased  to  breathe.  He  was  one  of  the  four,  whose  request  to  be  sent  to 
the  heathen  first  called  the  Board  into  existence.  His  early  connection 
with  the  cause  of  foreign  missions,  his  pure  and  constant  devotedness  to 
it  amid  labors  and  sufferings,  and  his  peculiarly  amiable  character,  had 
endeared  him  to  the  friends  of  missions  generally,  and  his  death  was  ex- 
tensively felt,  not  only  as  a  public  loss,  but  as  an  individual  calamity. 
Want  of  Funds.  Thls  mlsslon  had  other  afflictions.     The  deficiency  of 

the  treasury  at  home  curtailed  its  means  of  usefulness.  Their  joint  let- 
ter, dated  July  1,  states  that,  of  the  25  schools  under  their  care,  the 
want  of  funds  had  compelled  them  to  discontinue  ten ;  thus  abondoning 
500  children,  at  least  for  the  present,  to  the  uncounteracted  influences  of 
heathenism.  There  were,  however,  some  encouraging  circumstances. 
Mr.  Hall  had  in  his  family,  ten  or  twelve  native  children,  as  boarding 
scholars,  supported  by  their  parents.  There  were  four  in  the  family  of 
Mr.  Nichols,  and  four  with  Mr.  Graves.  Thus  there  was  some  reason 
to  hope  that  the  plan  which  this  mission  first  proposed,  would  at  length 
be  carried  into  operation. 
.  .  ,    .   ,,  Mr.  Garrett,  of  whose  exclusion  from  Ceylon  last  year 

Arrival     ol      Mr.  '  •         •  -p)  i 

Garrtiu  the  brethren  had  been  informed,  was  mvited  to  Bombay,  to 


1821,]        CEYLON.   DEATH  OF  MRS.  POOR.   REVIVAL.  105 

supply  the  place  of  Mr.  Bardwell  in  the  printing  department.  He  was 
more  needed  here  than  in  Ceylon  ;  so  that  his  transfer  proved  no  injury 
to  the  general  cause.  He  arrived  on  the  9th  of  May,  and  under  his 
superintendence,  the  press  resumed  its  usefulness. 

The  Ceylon  Mission  also  was  deprived  of  a  valued  mem-     ^,y,„„.  Death  of 
ber  by  death.     Mrs.  Susan  Poor,  after  an  illness  of  about     M"''°"- 
two  weeks,  was  released  from  her  earthly  labors  on  the  7th  of  May. 
Her  death  was  full  of  peace  and  joy,  and  was  evidently  a  means  of  reli- 
gious awakening  and  revival  to  many  who  knew  her. 

On  the  15lh  of  May,  Dr.  Scudder  was  ordained  to  the  gospel  minis- 
try, by  the  brethren  of  the  mission ;  Messrs.  Chater  and  Roberts,  Bap- 
tist and  Wesleyan  missionaries,  taking  part  in  the  exercises. 

During  this  year,  the  mission  received  visits,  donations,  and  other 
kind  and  encouraging  attentions,  from  Sir  Richard  Ottley,  Puisne  Justice 
of  the  island,  Mr^  Hooper,  Collector  of  the  district,  and  others  high  in 
office  and  influence.  In  the  summer,  official  notice  was  received 
that  the  British  government  had  sanctioned  the  existence  of  the  mis- 
sion. 

Here,  too,  the  want  of  funds  was  severely  felt ;  and  siaie  of  the 
several  of  the  free  schools  were  discontinued  for  a  time.  ^'''"''* 
Still,  about  the  end  of  the  year,  there  were  boarding  schools  at  four 
stations,  containing  in  all  72  boys  and  15  girls,  and  attached  to  the  five 
stations,  24  free  schools,  containing  1117  boys  and  36  girls;  in  all, 
1189  boys  and  51  girls.  In  August,  one  of  the  schools  for  girls  was 
discontinued,  neither  the  teacher  nor  pupils  being  able  to  bear  the  ridi- 
cule to  which  they  were  continually  subject ;  so  strong  and  general  was 
the  prejudice  of  the  heathen  against  female  education.  It  was  doing 
much,  therefore,  to  have  51  girls  in  school. 

This  year,  this  mission  was  favored  with  its  second  re-  Revival. 

vival.  On  the  22d  of  April,  two  boys  from  the  boarding  school  at  Til- 
lipally  were  received  as  members  of  the  church.  Of  three  other  candi- 
dates, one  was  deferred  for  some  impropriety  of  conduct,  and  the  others 
were  induced  to  delay  by  the  opposition  of  their  relatives.  On  the  last 
evening  in  June,  four  girls  came  to  Mr.  Poor,  in  distress  on  account  of 
their  sinfulness,  and  anxious  to  know  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved. 
They  had  just  received  the  needed  advice  and  departed,  when  Nicholas 
came  in,  to  ask  how  he  must  converse  with  those  who  were  anxious 
concerning  their  salvation.  There  had  been  an  unusual  seriousness 
among  the  boys  for  several  days.  On  the  evening  of  July  20,  at  a 
family  meeting  for  religious  inquiry,  20  or  30  were  present.  They 
seemed  unusually  serious  and  attentive,  and  several  of  them  expressed 
hopes  that  they  were  serving  Christ.  On  the  evening  of  the  23d,  seven 
girls  came,  with  earnest  inquiries  after  the  way  of  salvation.  Early  m 
August,  four  were  added  to  the  church.  One  of  them  was  George 
Kock,  medical  assistant,  of  Dutch  descent.  The  others  were  of  the 
Tamul  people.     The  church  now  consisted  of  24  members,  hall  ol  whom 

14 


106  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1821. 

were  natives  of  the  island,  and  three  were  studying  for  the  ministry. 
The  native  members  generally  were  active,  laborious  and  useful  in  pro- 
moting the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  and  urging  its  reception.  About 
the  close  of  December,  a  man  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Richards  and  two 
girls  from  the  boarding  school  were  added  to  the  church,  and  there  were 
others  who  exhibited  evidence  of  piety  in  various  degrees.  During  this 
revival,  several  old  men  and  others  in  the  neighborhood  were  deeply 
interested,  and  there  is  reason  to  hope  that  some  of  them  received  saving 
benefit. 

Native  Preachers  ^n  thc  6th  of  Novcmber,  at  Oodooville,  Francis  Mal- 

i.censeo.  Icappa,  Gabricl  Tissera  and  Nicholas  Permander,  native 

converts,  who  had  been  pursuing  a  course  of  study  preparatory  to  the 
ministry,  having  sustained  thorough  examinations  in  respect  to  their 
knowledge  and  piety,  were  regularly  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
their  countrymen.  In  this  capacity,  they  continued  to  labor  in  the 
service  of  the  Board. 

Puiescine Mission.  The   misslou   to   Palcstlne  found  its  labors  consider- 

ably interrupted  by  the  war  of  the  Greek  revolution.  Except  some 
short  excursions  to  neighboring  places,  Mr.  Fisk  spent  the  whole  year 
at  Smyrna,  pursuing  his  studies,  distributing  Bibles,  Testaments  and 
Tracts,  and  much  of  the  time  supplying  the  place  of  a  British  chaplain ; 
for  which,  the  next  year,  the  Levant  Company  made  a  liberal  compen- 
sation. For  a  great  part  of  the  year,  prudence  required  him  to  live  in 
retirement.  His  unpublished  journal  mentions  almost  daily  atrocities 
committed  by  the  Turks  upon  Greeks,  and  by  men  of  different  tribes 
and  nations  upon  each  other,  almost  in  his  immediate  presence. 
siaiionaijerusa-  ^^^-  P^rsous  arrlvcd  at  Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa,  Feb- 

'•='"■  ruary  10.     Having  enjoyed  the  hospitality  and  kind  atten- 

tions of  the  English  and  Russian  Consuls,  he  left  on  the  16th,  and  the 
next  day  entered  Jerusalem;  being  the  first  Protestant  missionary  who 
ever  entered  that  city  with  the  intention  of  making  it  the  permanent 
field  of  his  labors.  He  immediately  called  on  Procopius,  Assistant  of 
the  Greek  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem  and  Procurator  General  of  the  Greek 
Convent,  who  had  been  for  some  time  an  agent  for  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  to  whom  he  had  letters  of  introduction. 
Procopius  received  him  with  kindness,  and  rendered  him  important  aid. 
While  here,  Mr.  Parsons  visited  the  principal  places  of  historical  interest 
in  the  city  and  its  vicinity,  distributed  Bibles,  Testaments  and  Tracts, 
and  conversed  with  men  of  many  nations  and  from  distant  regions,  and 
was  allowed  to  hope  that  his  labors  were  not  wholly  fruitless.  He  had 
interesting  conversation  with  several  Armenians,  to  whom  he  at  length 
suggested  the  thought  of  a  mission  to  Armenia.  "  We  shall  rejoice," 
they  said,  "  and  all  will  rejoice,  when  they  arrive."  Mr,  Fisk,  writing 
afterwards  from  Smyrna,  recommended  a  mission  to  Armenia;  and  be- 
fore these  communications  were  received,  the  same  enterprise  had  been 
urged  by  intelligent  friends  of  missions  in  Boston. 


1S21.] 


JERUSALEM.       GREEK    REVOLUTION.       CHEROKEES. 


10' 


'^'  The  intention  of  spending  the  summer  on  Mount  Lebanon  was 
abandoned,  as  too  hazardous  an  exposure  of  life  during  the  present  un- 
settled state  of  the  country ;  and  on  the  8th  of  May  Mr.  Parsons  left  Jeru- 


city  uf  Ju-iUoLiloai. 


salem  for  Smyrna.  May  20,  at  sea,  he  first  saw  the  new  Greek  flag, 
black,  with  a  white  cross,  the  emblem  of  Christianity,  above  the  Turk- 
ish crescent.  On  the  1st  of  June,  the  Captain  of  a  Greek  ship  of  war 
informed  him  that  Scio  could  not  be  visited,  that  its  college  was  closed, 
and  that  Professor  Bambas  had  with  difficulty  saved  his  life  by  flight. 
He  stopped  at  Syra,  where  he  spent  some  time  under  the  protection  of 
the  British  Consul.  Here  he  was  visited  with  dangerous  sickness,  and 
from  September  5  to  October  1  was  delirious.  November  21,  he  had 
so  far  recovered  as  to  sail  for  Smyrna,  where  he  arrived  on  the  3d  of 
December.  On  the  13th  of  that  month,  the  joint  letter  of  himself  and 
his  colleague  says,  "  Every  thing  indicates  a  speedy  restoration  to  per- 
fect health." 

The  communications  of  Messrs.  Fisk  and  Parsons,  and  Prin-i.-g  ^."..1. 
those  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williamson  and  others,  which  they  transmitted, 
excited  a  lively  interest  at  home.  In  the  very  beginning  of  the  year,  Janu- 
ary 18,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Boston  to  consider  the  subject,  a  subscription 
was  commenced  for  the  support  of  a  printing  establishment  in  Smyrna, 
or  at  such  other  place  in  that  region  as  should  be  found  most  advisable. 
It  was  proposed  to  raise,  by  the  4th  of  July,  $3,000  a  year  for  five 
years ;  which  was  accomplished  by  the  time  appointed. 

At  Brainerd,  the  principal  station  among  the  Cherokees,    Cherokee  Mi..ioo. 


108  HISTORY   OF    THE*  AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1821. 

the  most  deeply  interesting  event  was  the  visit  and  death  of  Dr.  Wor- 
cester, of  which  an  account  has  aheady  been  given. 

The  mission  suffered  much  from  the  sickness  of  its  members,  arising,  in 
a  o-reat  measure,  from  excessive  but  unavoidable  cares  and  labors.  Few, 
feeble  and  worn  down,  as  they  were,  they  could  neither  adequately  meet 
the  calls  upon  them  for  instruction,  nor  superintend  efficiently  the  labor  of 
the  boys,  so  that  the  farm  was  not  a  source  of  profit.  This  was  not, 
however,  the  fault  of  the  farm,  which  was  good,  or  of  the  boys,  who 
were  obedient  and  industrious.  Manual  labor  seminaries  have  univer- 
sally been  expensive,  except  in  a  few  cases  where,  for  short  periods  of 
time,  uncommonly  judicious  and  energetic  superintendence  has  been 
aided  by  uncommon  facilities  for  procuring  profitable  labor  and  disposing 
of  its  products.  They  were  necessary  among  the  Indians,  because  the 
pupils  must  be  instructed  in  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts. 

The  Rev.  William  Potter  and  Dr.  Elizur  Butler  joined  the  mission 
in  January.     Mr.  Potter  took  charge  of  the  station  at  Creek  Path,  and 
Dr.  Butler  remained  at  Brainerd.     Mr.  Ellsworth,  with  his  wife  and  sis- 
ter, arrived  in  November,  and  Mr.  Parker  in  December. 
Revival.  Each  of  the  three  stations  was  enabled  to  rejoice  in  the 

presence  of  the  sanctifying  Spirit.  The  most  interesting  cases  are  con- 
nected with  the  station  at  Brainerd.  Mr.  Butrick  frequently  made  ex- 
cursions for  preaching,  with  Mr.  Reece  or  John  Arch  for  an  interpreter, 
and  with  good  results.  Early  in  August,  the  journal  of  the  mission 
records  an  uncommon  degree  of  seriousness  among  the  older  boys  in  the 
school.  They  soon  commenced  the  practice  of  holding  religious  con- 
ferences and  prayer  meetings  by  themselves  ;  and  some  of  them  said,  it 
appeared  as  if  they  w^ere  coming  out  of  a  dark  dungeon  into  the  light 
of  day.  Instances  of  serious  inquiry  among  adults,  also,  clearly  showed 
that  the  truth  was  silently  at  work,  even  in  distant  parts  of  the  nation. 
On  the  4th  of  August,  a  man  came  to  spend  several  days  at  Brainerd,  to 
obtain  religious  instruction.  He  said  that  what  he  had  heard  there  some 
time  before  (supposed  to  be  about  18  months)  sunk  down  into  his  heart; 
that  he  carried  it  always  with  him,  and  it  had  been  growing  ever  since; 
that  he  had  found  himself  to  be  a  great  sinner;  that  he  could  do  noth- 
ing to  make  himself  any  better,  but  Jesus  could  take  away  his  sins  and 
give  him  aright  heart.  On  the  14th  of  October,  he  and  Mrs.  McPher- 
son,  the  mother  of  Mr.  Reece,  were  received  as  members  of  the  church. 
At  his  baptism  he  received  the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Mills. — On  the  14th 
of  August,  this  man's  gray-headed  uncle  came  to  Brainerd,  with  his 
wife.  Some  of  their  relatives,  they  said,  had  become  pious,  and  were 
always  talking  to  them  about  these  things.  They  believed  them  to  be 
good  things,  and  wished  to  know  more  about  them.  For  that  purpose, 
they  had  travelled  60  miles  to  Brainerd,  where  they  had  never  been 
before.  They  did  not  think  themselves  so  great  sinners  as  some  others; 
but  from  the  great  change  which  they  saw  in  their  pious  relatives,  they 
were  convinced  that  they  themselves  needed  a  change  beyond  their  own 
power  to  effect.     After  a  visit  of  five  days,  they  departed  for  their 


182 1.]  AN   ARK   ON   THE   MISSISSIPPI.  109 

home,  rejoicing  in  the  light  they  had  received,  and  declaring  their  de- 
termination to  walk  in  it,  and  to  seek  for  its  increase. — The  church  at 
Creek  Path  received  several  accessions  during  the  year,  and  the  lives 
of  its  members  afforded  gratifying  evidence  of  their  piety. 

The  Choctaw  mission  suffered  severely  for  want  of  choctaw..  mhj. 
funds.  Major  Pitchlynn,  on  learning  the  state  of  the  trea-  "o"-  """'  °"''' 
sury,  said,  "  The  work  must  not  stop ;"  and  advanced  $1200  to  carry  it 
on.  This  he  afterwards  made  a  donation  to  the  Board,  saying  that  he 
had  as  much  left  as  he  should  ever  need.  The  people  at  French  Camps, 
learning  that  the  Board  was  unable  to  meet  the  expense,  built,  almost 
wholly  at  their  own  cost,  a  school-house  and  a  dwelling-house  for  Mr. 
L.  S.  Williams.  The  farm  at  Elliot  produced  1200  bushels  of  Indian 
corn  and  750  of  potatoes,  besides  other  means  of  subsistence.  By  these 
means,  the  mission  was  enabled  to  continue  its  operations  till  the  Board 
was  more  liberally  supplied  with  funds. 

A  reinforcement,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Smith,  Cushman   Reinforcement. 
and  Bardwell,  with  their  families,  Messrs.  Byington  and  Hooper,  Miss* 
Frisselle  and  Miss  Thatcher,  had  been  directed  in  18i0,  to  meet  at  Pitts- 
burgh, and  proceed  to  Elliot   by  land  ;   but,  trusting  to  advice  which 
appeared  entirely  worthy  of  their  confidence,  they  concluded  to  go  by 
water, — by  the  Ohio,  Alississippi  and  Yazoo.     They  embarked  in  a 
craft  then  in  common  use  in  descending  those  western  waters,  called  an 
ark.     It  was  56  feet  long,  14  wide,  and  6  high.     The  bottom  was  per- 
fectly flat,  the  roof  convex,  and  the  walls  at  the  sides  and  ends  straight 
and  perpendicular.     It  had  two  long  oars  at  the  sides  to  row  with,  and 
one  at  the  stern  to  serve  as  a  rudder.     The  inside  was  divided  into  three 
apartments.     In  one  was  a  cow  ;  one  was  a  kitchen  and  sitting-room  ; 
and  in  the  other,  during  the  three  months  of  their  descent,  a  school  of 
ten  children  was  taught.     Such  arks  cost  about  $100;  and  being  un- 
manageable against  the  stream,  were  sold  for  a  trifle  at  New-Orleans. 
In  floating  down  the  Mississippi,  the  missionary  company  had  many  in- 
teresting seasons.     Some  copies  of  the  "  Swearer's  Prayer,"  which  they 
sent  on  board  another  ark,  induced  its  crew  to  quit  profane  swearing  by 
agreement,  and  procured  an  opportunity  for  Mr.  Byington  to  preach  to 
the  crews  of  seven  or  eio;ht  arks  on  two  successive  eveninofs.     A  man  at 
a  village  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  hearing  of  these  meetings,  has- 
tened to  their  ark,  and  with  tears  besought  them  to  land  and  have  a 
meeting  at  his  house  ;  saying  that  some  of  his  neighbors  had  never 
heard  a  sermon.     They  landed,  dispersed  themselves  among  the  people, 
and  conversed  on  religion  till  evening,  when  Mr.  Byin<T;ton  preached. 
The  people  appeared  solemn  and  interested,  and  promised  that  thence- 
forth they  would  meet  together  every  Sabbath  and  read  the  Scriptures. 
On  the  27th  of  January,  they  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  where 
they  must  leave  their  ark.     Mr.  Cushman  and  his  family,  with  Mr. 
Hooper,  passed  through  the  wilderness  in  a  wagon,  and  arrived  at  May- 
hew  early  in  March.     Mr.  Bardwell,  with  his  family  and  Miss  Frisselle, 
arrived  at  Elliot  by  land  in  May.     Mr.  Smith,  with  his  family  and 


110  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1821. 

Miss  Thatcher,  ascended  the  Yazoo  in  a  batteau,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Dyer,  sent  from  Elliot  to  their  aid.  After  toiling  three  weeks  at  the 
oar,  Mr.  Smith's  eldest  son,  a  youth  of  fifteen,  was  taken  sick.  Here, 
more  than  100  miles  by  water  from  any  human  habitation,  he  lan- 
guished a  week,  and  then  expired.  Mr.  Smith  assisted  in  digging  a 
grave  and  interring  the  remains  of  his  son ;  and  then,  having  peeled 
the  bark  from  a  large  tree  to  mark  the  place,  they  resumed  their  toil- 
some ascent.  After  struggling  about  three  weeks  longer  against  the 
current,  sometimes  not  without  danger  to  their  lives,  the  females  taking 
their  turn  at  the  helm,  they  reached  Elliot  on  the  20th  of  March. 

The  schools  prospered,  as  far  as  the  straitened  circumstances  of  the 
mission  permitted.  At  Elliot,  there  vrere  80  pupils  or  more.  The 
people,  and  especially  the  chiefs,  were  urgent  for  their  multiplication  and 
enlargement.  The  preparation  of  a  school  book  in  their  language, 
by  Mr.  Wilhams,  was  an  important  addition  to  their  means  of  edu- 
cation. 

c.nversions.  In  Spiritual  things,  the  year  was  not  without  fruits.    As 

early  as  March,  a  general  seriousness  was  observable  among  the 
pupils  at  Elliot.  It  continued  to  increase;  and  in  a  few  weeks, 
several  were  anxiously  inquiring  what  they  must  do  to  be  saved. 
Mr.  Williams  wrote,  June  27,  that  hopes  were  entertained  of  the  conver- 
sion of  two  of  the  boys,  and  that  others  were  still  serious.  September 
2,  the  church  met  for  conversation  with  three  candidates  for  admission. 
Two  of  them  were  slaves,  and  the  other  the  wife  of  a  chief.  On  the 
30th,  one  of  them  was  admitted,  but  the  others  were  providentially  pre- 
vented. During  the  month  of  December,  religious  meetings  were  more 
than  usually  solemn ;  the  hired  laborers  generally  were  serious,  and  the 
spirit  of  inquiry  was  spreading  and  deepening  in  the  school.  The  journal 
of  the  mission  closes  with  thanksgiving  to  God,  for  the  hopes  of  good 
with  which  he  was  encouraging  the  hearts  of  his  servants. 

These  joys  were  mingled  with  grief.  Mrs.  Judith  C.  Williams,  who 
had  long  been  suffering  under  a  fever  brought  on  by  excessive  labor, 
died  unexpectedly  on  the  13th  of  October ;  and  on  the  22d  John  Long, 
a  member  of  the  school,  in  his  14th  year,  was  called  to  leave  the  world. 
He  was  a  boy  of  uncommon  promise;  one  of  the  best  scholars  in  the 
school,  and  one  of  the  first  and  most  anxious  inquirers  after  the  way  of 
life.  From  his  first  awakening,  his  interest  had  never  declined.  He 
was  conscientious  in  the  performance  of  duty,  and  it  was  hoped,  pre- 
pared for  heaven. 

Muyhew  Church.  Thc  church  at  Mayhew,  the  second  within  the  limits 

of  the  Choctaw  nation,  was  organized  on  the  6th  of  May.  Dr.  Wor- 
cester was  present.  After  the  adoption  of  the  articles  of  faith  and 
covenant,  he  made  some  appropriate  remarks  on  the  solemn  transac- 
tions of  the  day,  the  privileges  and  obligations  of  the  children  of  God, 
the  crown  of  glory  that  is  laid  up  in  heaven  for  the  faithful,  and  the 
dreadful  end  of  the  unfaithful.  He  then,  in  strains  of  elevated  devotion, 
offered  up  the  consecrating  prayer,  and  administered  the  bread  to  the 


1821.]  ARICANSAS  MISSION   COMMENCED.      SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  Ill 

communicants.     This  was  the  last  time  that  he  assisted  in  public  worship 
on  earth. 

The  missionaries  to  the  Cherokees  on  the  Arkansas  Arion...,,  Mission 
spent  the  year  in  preparation  for  future  labors.  Messrs. 
Hitchcock  and  Orr,  with  the  hired  men,  spent  the  winter  at  Dwight,  as 
the  station  was  named  after  consultation  with  Dr.  Worcester.  Mr. 
Finney,  with  his  wife,  Mrs.  Washburn  and  Miss  Minerva  Washburn, 
left  Elliot  on  the  22d  of  March.  At  Walnut  Hills,  they  were  joined  by 
INIr.  Washburn,  who  had  been  to  Natchez,  to  have  an  interview  with 
Dr.  Worcester.  The  company  arrived  at  Dwight  on  the  10th  of  May. 
They  found  there  two  log  houses,  with  stone  chimneys,  nearly  completed ; 
three  acres  of  land  planted,  12  ready  for  the  plough,  and  six  more  on 
which  the  forest  trees  had  been  felled.  At  the  end  of  June,  22  acres 
had  been  planted,  and  the  whole  was  well  fenced  in  due  season.  In 
July,  Mr.  Finney  was  seized  with  the  fever  and  ague,  and  the  whole 
family,  even  the  little  children,  were  soon  after  attacked.  Yet  they 
continued  their  labors.  The  building  of  the  school-house  was  completed 
before  the  1st  of  November.  The  impatience  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors 
forbade  a  much  longer  delay  in  opening  the  school. 

Messrs.  Asa  and  Daniel  Hitchcock,  Miss  Ellen  Stetson  and  Miss 
Nancy  Brown  left  Brimfield,  Mass.,  about  the  1st  of  September,  to  join 
this  mission.  On  the  22d  of  that  month,  Mr.  Daniel  Hitchcock  was 
taken  sick  near  Hagarstown,  Pa.,  where  he  died,  after  an  illness  of  nine 
days.  The  others  arrived  at  Dwight  on  the  22d  of  December;  and  on 
the  25th,  Mr.  Jacob  Hitchcock  and  Miss  Brown,  according  to  previous 
agreement,  were  united  in  marriage. 

At  the  Sandwich  Islands,  but  little  except  preparatory  sandwid,  isia.u's. 
work  could  be  done.  The  missionaries  were  diligent  and  successful  in 
the  study  of  the  language,  and  of  the  native  character.  The  public 
■svorship  of  God  was  regularly  maintained,  and  attended  by  the  members 
of  the  mission  families,  and  by  many  of  the  foreign  residents  and  officers 
and  seamen  of  ships  in  port,  and  by  natives,  some  of  whom  could  under- 
stand a  little  English.  Some  seamen  and  foreign  residents  complained 
that  the  preaching  was  too  severe  against  sin  and  sinners,  but  others 
approved  the  preaching  and  sustained  the  preachers.  Chiefly  by  their 
ellorts  and  at  their  expense,  a  house  of  worship  was  erected  at  Honolulu, 
54  feet  long  and  22  feet  wide,  calculated  to  hold  200  hearers.  It  was 
dedicated  on  the  15th  of  September. 

On  the  first  arrival  of  the  mission,  masters  and  crews  of  i,„nvuesofKurcis.. 
vessels  and  foreign  residents  all  appeared  friendly.  It  has  "''"''""'■ 
since  been  ascertained  that  some  of  them  were  hostile  even  then,  and 
their  intrigues  caused  the  delay  of  the  king  in  granting  the  mission 
leave  to  reside  on  the  Islands.  One  of  the  most  active  of  the  intriguers, 
a  Frenchman,  whose  name  was  John  Rives,  threatened  to  procure  their 
expulsion  fiom  the  islands  at  the  end  of  the  year  for  which  they  had 
received  permission  to  reside  there.  But  in  res])ect  to  the  greater  part 
of  the  foreign  residents,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  their  friend- 


112 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1821. 


Mission  House  and  Cliapel  at  Honolulu,  18:22. 

ship  was  feigned.  Some  of  them  were  men  of  good  character — friends 
on  Christian  principle,  or  at  least,  humane  friends  of  civilization  and 
good  morals ;  as  their  subsequent  conduct  has  proved.  Others  were 
pleased  with  an  addition  to  the  civilized  and  educated  society  of  the 
Islands;  and  the  most  abandoned  might  be  pleased  to  have  religion 
brought  within  a  convenient  distance,  so  as  to  be  ready  when  they  should 
need  it.  That  feeling  is  not  uncommon,  even  in  the  most  profligate. 
Cain,  the  first  murderer,  esteemed  the  loss  of  his  religious  privileges  a 
very  grievous  part  of  his  punishment, — exclaiming,  "  And  from  thy  face 
shall  I  be  hid."  But  during  this  year,  the  presence  and  labors  of  so 
many  pious  persons  began  to  be  felt  as  a  restraint  upon  vicious  indulgence, 
and  the  hostility  of  sin  to  holiness  began  to  show  itself. 

Tamoree  had  projected  a  voyage  to  the  Society  Islands.  It  was  to 
be  made  in  a  ship  belonging  to  himself.  Two  of  the  missionaries  were 
to  be  of  the  company.  A  friendly  captain  had  offered  assistance  from 
his  crew  to  navigate  the  ship.  It  was  believed  that  such  a  visit  to  a 
kindred  people,  lately  heathen  but  now  Christian,  would  do  much  to 
promote  the  objects  of  the  mission.  This  project  was  vigorously  opposed 
by  some  of  the  foreign  residents.  They  asserted  that  the  missionaries  at 
the  Society  Islands  were  great  hypocrites,  very  ignorant,  and  wholly 
unworthy  of  credit ;  that  some  of  them  had  been  known  to  spend  whole 
nights  in  prayer ;  and  that  the  port  charges  on  every  vessel  visiting 
Tahiti  were  $10,000.  These  stories,  except  that  of  praying  all  night, 
were  evidently  false;  but  by  such  representations  and  other  efforts, 
they  succeeded  in  preventing  the  voyage. 

The  king  was  a  slave  to  intemperance,  and  soon  gave  up  his  studies ; 
but  he  continued  friendly,  examined  with  interest  the  progress  of  others, 
and  sometimes  lamented  that  he  had  not  persevered.  The  chiefs  were 
uniformly  friendly,  and  the  most  influential  of  them,  especially  Tamoree, 


1822.]  BOMBAY   MISSION   EXTENDED.  113 

rendered  important  services.  Honoree  and  the  "  faithful  Hopu"  con- 
tinued their  labors,  and  in  April,  George  Sandwich,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated at  Cornwall,  arrived  from  Boston,  and  joined  them  ;  and  there  is 
reason  to  hope  that  their  labors  were  the  means  of  salvation  to  some  of 
their  countrymen.  Several  of  the  chiefs  and  others  learned,  habitually 
and  with  apparent  sincerity,  though  not  as  understandingly  as  was  de- 
sirable, to  acknowledge  Jehovah  as  God  ;  and  one  of  them,  with  whom 
Hopu  had  labored  much,  acquired  such  a  confidence  in  Jehovah,  that 
he  was  calm  in  the  near  prospect  of  death,  and  expressed  a  desire  to 
depart  and  be  with  him. 


CHAPTER    XIV 


1822. — Meeting  at  New  Haven. — Offers  of  service  declined. — Missionary  Her- 
ald.— Bombay. — Increa.se  of  Schools. — Mission  Chapel. — Kader  Yar  Khan. 
— Ceylon. — Native  laborers. — Converts. — First  Christian  marriage. — Death 
of  Mr.  Richards. — Death  of  Mr.  Parsons. — Mr.  Temple  and  Mr.  King  join 
the  Palestine  mission. — Conversions  among  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws. — 
Folsom's  library. — Choctaw  legislation. — Missionary  Convention  beyond 
the  Mississippi. — Sandwich  Islands  mission  reinforced. — Rev.  Mr.  Ellis. — 
Auna  and  his  sister. — The  first  printing. — Hawaiian  orthography. — Schools 
increase. — Kiamoku's  dream. — He  and  others  become  attentive  to  religion. 
— The  King  led  astray. 

The  Board  met  at  New  Haven,  on  the  12th  and  13th  of  September. 
Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.  was  chosen  Corresponding  Secretary,  Henry 
Hill,  Esq.  Treasurer,  and  Chester  Adams,  Esq.  Auditor.  The  other 
officers  remained  unchanged.  The  payments  from  the  treasury  during 
the  financial  year  had  been  $60,323,89 ;  receipts  from  donations, 
$59,438,48;  from  permanent  fund,  &c.,  $1,799,39;  total,  $61,237,87. 
The  value  of  donations  in  clothing  and  other  articles  besides  money, 
was  estimated  at  $25,000. 

It  appears  from  the  records  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  that  many 
offers  of  missionary  service  were  declined  this  year.  Some  were  from 
men  who  had  large  families,  which  it  would  be  expensive,  inconvenient 
and  dangerous  to  transplant  to  heathen  lands.  Some  offers  of  service 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands  were  declined,  because  as  many  had  been 
already  engaged  as  could  advantageously  be  sent  out.  Some,  for  whose 
services  the  Board  had  no  immediate  use,  were  advised  to  wait,  till 
Providence  should  open  the  way  for  their  employment. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  in  January,  it  appeared  that  nine 
thousand  copies  monthly  of  the  Missionary  Herald  were  needed  to  sup- 
ply subscribers,  auxiliary  societies,  and  others  who  had  claims  to  re- 
ceive it. 

The  oldest  mission  of  the  Board,  the  laborious,  perse- 
vering, alllicted  mission  at  Bombay,  continued  its  usual 

15 


114  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1822. 

labors  with  the  usual  results.  By  the  press,  and  by  the  distribution  of 
portions  of  Scripture  and  other  books  and  tracts,  much  Christian  know- 
ledge was  diffused  ;  and  the  gospel  was  in  some  degree  made  known  to 
many  by  preaching  and  conversation.  The  number  of  schools,  which  had 
been  reduced  to  15,  was  increased  to  18.  The  number  of  children  received 
into  the  mission  families  for  education  was  greatly  increased.  In  May, 
there  were  in  the  three  families,  more  than  50.  Of  these,  25  were  chil- 
dren of  English  soldiers  by  native  women,  and  were  supported  by  their 
parents.  The  number  was  necessarily  diminished,  M'hen,  on  the  3d 
of  July,  as  an  indispensable  means  of  saving  her  life,  Mrs.  Graves  em- 
barked for  the  United  States  by  v/ay  of  Liverpool.  This  remedy  proved 
effectual ;  and  she  rejoined  her  husband,  with  restored  health,  in  June, 
1824. 

Missinn  Chapel.  Thc  Want  of  a  house  of  worship,  which  could  also  ac- 

commodate a  school,  had  long  been  seriously  felt ;  and  a  favorable  op- 
portunity occurring,  a  lot  was  purchased,  and  the  erection  of  a  building 
commenced.  There  was  at  that  time  no  Protestant  house  of  worship 
for  natives  of  Asia,  in  the  whole  region  extending  from  Cape  Comorin 
on  the  south  to  the  Russian  dominions  on  the  north,  and  from  the  vi- 
cinity of  Calcutta  on  the  east  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  on  the 
west.  Towards  the  erection  of  this  chapel,  about  $450  was  contributed 
in  Bombay,  and  in  Calcutta  about  $750,  the  greater  part  of  which  was 
given  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Newton,  and  the  remainder  obtained  by  his  exertions. 
Kader  Yar  Kiian.  Early  In  the  autumn,  a  letter  was  received  from  Kader 

Yar  Khan,  the  interesting  Mussulman  convert,  baptized  in  1819.  He 
stated  that  he  was  still  endeavoring  to  promote  Christianity,  but  met 
with  much  opposition ;  yet  in  Hydrabad  five  servants  and  some  others, 
and  in  Secundrabad,  whither  he  had  removed,  three  men  and  two  wo- 
men had  avowed  their  belief  in  Christianity,  and  desired  to  be  received 
into  Christian  fellowship.  The  brethren  were  in  doubt,  how  much 
confidence  might  be  reposed  in  his  judgment,  and  in  the  reality  of  those 
conversions.  They  wrote  to  him,  inviting  him  to  come,  with  his  family, 
to  Bombay,  where  they  thought  he  might  be  more  useful  than  alone ; 
but  he  never  came. 

On  the  26th  of  March,  another  missionary  family  was  formed,  by 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  Garrett  and  Mrs.  Newell. 

Ceylon.  Native  Thc  Ceylou  misslon  found  its  facilities  for  usefulness 

assistants.  grcatly  increased,  by  means  which  the  divine  blessing  on 

its  labors  had  furnished.  The  brethren  say,  in  their  joint  letter  of  May 
30 : — "  After  the  more  regular  services  in  the  forenoon  at  our  stations, 
on  the  Sabbath,  six  missionaries,  three  native  preachers,  and  fifteen  or 
twenty  of  our  most  forward  boys  in  the  boarding  schools,  whom  we 
generally  '  send  forth  by  tw^o  and  two,'  are  able  to  go  into  villages, 
fields,  streets,  and  from  house  to  house,  for  the  purpose  of  preaching  the 
gospel,  or  of  reading  tracts,  or  extracts  and  portions  from  the  Scriptures ; 
and,  as  many  of  the  places  at  which  we  preach  are  previously  appoint- 
ed, we  not  unfrequently  have  small  congregations. 


1822.]  CONVERTS.       NATIVE    BIBLE    SOCIETY.  115 

"  The  method  of  spreading  the  gospel,  by  sending  our  boarding 
boys  to  read  to  the  people,  has  become  interesting  and  greatly  useful,  as 
it  not  only  enables  us  to  communicate  the  truth  to  hundreds  in  a  day, 
who  must  otherwise  remain  uninstructed,  but  at  the  same  time  teaches 
our  boys  to  defend  the  Christian  religion  from  all  the  false  accusations 
and  vain  objections  brought  against  it  by  the  heathen.  Nor  is  it  less 
interesting  to  state,  that  the  females  who  have  joined  our  church,  seem 
to  take  a  lively  interest  in  the  cause,  and  often  seek  opportunities,  by 
going  to  diiferent  houses,  of  communicating  truth  to  their  own  sex,  and 
are  sometimes  successful  in  persuading  a  few  to  break  away  from  their 
former  customs,  to  go  to  the  house  of  worship,  and  to  listen  to  a  preached 
gospel." 

The  same  letter  mentions  the  admission  of  five  native  converu. 

converts  to  the  church,  only  one  of  whom  was  a  member  of  a  boarding 
school.  The  church  now  consisted  of  32  members,  of  whom  17  were 
from  the  natives.  The  joint  letter  in  October  mentions  the  admission  of 
another.  His  name  was  Philip.  About  six  years  before,  he  had  come 
into  possession  of  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament,  the  reading  of  which 
was  the  means  of  his  conversion.  About  two  years  before  his  admis- 
sion, of  his  own  accord,  unknown  to  any  Christian  friend,  he  began  to 
publish  to  his  heathen  acquaintance  the  Savior  whom  he  had  found. 
At  length,  becoming  acquainted  with  the  missionaries,  he  removed  to 
Tillipally,  where  he  spent  his  time  in  studying  the  Scriptures  and  labor- 
ing for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  In  a  few  months,  he  was  admit- 
ted to  the  church.  Another  convert  from  heathenism  was  received  in 
November,  and  another  in  December.  Hopes  were  entertained  of  the 
piety  of  several  others.  One  of  them,  Conter,  was  a  man  who  had  been 
cast  into  prison  at  Manepy.  In  the  same  prison  was  a  man  from  Batti- 
cotta,  to  whom  Mr.  j\Ieigs  had  lent  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament. 
Conter  had  access  to  this  book,  and  read  it.  He  became  much  im- 
pressed with  its  truths,  and  reproved  some  who  were  confined  with  him, 
for  erecting  an  altar  and  addressing  their  prayers  to  some  demon,  by 
whose  aid  they  professed  to  hope  for  release.  His  reproofs  were  an- 
swered only  by  abuse  and  threats  of  violence ;  but  he  continued  to  read 
and  reflect,  and  resolved  that,  if  released,  he  would  "  seek  first  the  king- 
dom of  God."  When  released,  he  went  to  the  mission  house,  where, 
by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  he  was  further  enlightened,  and  con- 
firmed in  his  belief.  After  having  given  satisfactory  evidence  of  piety 
for  several  months,  he  became  a  member  of  the  church  early  in  the  next 
year.^  . 

Evidence  of  the  increasing  influence  of  Christianity  was  ^'^'i^  Biwe  sodeiy. 
exhibited  on  the  26th  of  October.  It  was  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
Native  Taraul  Bible  Association  of  Mallagum.  It  appeared  from  the 
report,  that  nearly  300  rix  dollars  had  been  collected  during  the  year, 
about  half  of  which  had  been  contributed  by  natives,  the  greater 
part  of  whom  were  still  idolaters.  They  were  evidently  influenced  in 
part  by  an  indefinite  impression  that  the  Bible  was  a  good  book,  contri- 


116  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1822. 

butions  to  the  circulation  of  which  would  be  meritorious ;  but  still 
more  by  a  desire  to  please  their  superiors,  the  English  magistrates  and 
others. 

A  Christian  marriage.       Qn  thc  3d  of  April,  two  ttativc  mcmbers  of  the  church, 
who  had  received  the  names  of  Daniel  Smead   and  Miranda  SafFord, 
were  united  in  marriage,  the  Rev.  Christian  David   officiating,  in  the 
presence  of  about  150  natives.     Smead  appears  to  have  been  admira- 
bly fitted  to  take  the  lead  in  breaking  away  from  heathen  customs.     Of 
sound  judgment,  with  but  little  genius,  slow,  deliberate,  and  firm  in  his 
determinations,  he  had  repeatedly  incurred  the  hazard  of  great  pecuni- 
ary loss,  rather  than  endanger  his  spiritual  interests.     Now,  though  of 
the  highest  cast  on  the  island  except  the  Brahmuns,  he  took  a  wife  of 
a  very  low  caste,  with  not  more  than  half  the  dowry  that  he  might  have 
had  with  a  heathen  wife.     She  was  the  oklest  and  one  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced scholars  in  the  school ;  and,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  public 
sentiment  of  the  heathen,  he  assigned  her  good  education  as  an  impor- 
tant reason  for  his  choice.     The  wedding  feast  brought  respectable  per- 
sons of  the  different  castes  to  eat  together  on  land  occupied  by  Chris- 
tians, and  to  visit  together,  though  without  eating,  at  the  house  of  the 
bride's  parents.     It  was  a  custom  universal  at  the  feasts  of  the  heathen, 
that  the  guests  should  make  valuable  presents  to  the  entertainer ;  it  be- 
ing understood  that  the  guests  would  make  feasts  in  their  turn,  at  which 
presents  would  be  made  to  them  ;  and  indefinite  obligations  to  make 
presents,  growing  out  of  this  custom,  were  a  constant  source  of  dissatis- 
faction and  ill-will.     Smead  saw  the  evil  of  the  practice,  and  refused  to 
avail  himself  of  it.     But  his  most  offensive  innovation  was  eating  at  the 
same  table   with  his  wife.     For  a  Vellale  to  eat  with  a  Chanda,  or  for 
a  man  to  eat  with  a  woman  in  any  case,  was  an  innovation  which  no 
one  expected.     Even  Roman  Catholics  of  Tamul  descent  had  never  ven- 
tured  upon  such  a  departure  from  the  customs  of  the  country.     The 
heathen  thought  that  the  new  religion  was  indeed  fitted  to  turn  the 
world  upside  down.     Many  expressed  the  belief,  that  a  universal  change 
in  the  religion  and  customs  of  the  people  was  approaching. — The  im- 
mediate effect  on  the  cause  of  female  education  was  decidedly  favorable. 
In  a  short  time,  three  girls  of  high  caste,  from  the  village  where  Miranda 
lived,  were  offered  to  become  members  of  the  school. 

It  remains,  to  record  a  severe  but  long  expected  loss.  The  health 
of  Mr.  Richards  had  continued  without  material  alteration  till  about  the 
last  of  June.  From  that  time  it  rapidly  declined,  till,  on  the  3d  of 
August,  he  was  taken  to  his  reward. 

paiosiiue  Mission.  A  hcavy  blow  fell  upon  the  mission  to  Palestine.  The 
D.athofMr.Par.ons.j^ggj^j^  of  Mr.  Pai'sons  agaiu  rapidly  failed;  and  he  and 
Mr.  Fisk  sailed  from  Smyrna  on  the  9th  of  January,  and  in  five  days 
arrived  at  Alexandria,  in  hope  that  a  change  of  climate  would  restore  it. 
The  hope  was  delusive.  He  lived  only  till  the  10th  of  Febuary.  The 
respect  shown  him  at  his  funeral,  by  many  persons  from  different  nations, 
showed  the  favorable  impression  he  had  made  on  those  who  knew  him. 


1822.]        MESSRS.    TEMPLE   AND   KING   JOIN   THE   PALESTmE   MISSION.        117 

"  Few  men  in  any  employment,"  says  the  anual  report  of  the  Board, 
"  even  among  those  who  have  been  distinguished  for  their  piety,  leave 
SO  spotless  a  name  as  was  left  by  Mr.  Parsons." 

Mr.  Fisk,  during  nearly  the  whole  period  of  his  resi-  m^.  Kisk-smo^mems. 
dence  at  Alexandria,  preached  regularly  on  the  Sabbath  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Lee,  the  English  Consul.     Early  in  March,  he  set  forward  on  his 
journey  to  Palestine,  by  way  of  Cairo.     There,  March  10,  he  received  a 
letter  from  Dr.  Naudi,  at  Malta,  informing  him  of  the  arrival  of  the  Rev. 
Daniel  Temple,  as  an  associate  in  the  mission,  and  urging  his  return. 
In  the  present  state  of  the  country,  his   intended  journey  would  be  dan- 
gerous, and  very  few  pilgrims  would  be  found  at  Jerusalem.      He  changed 
his  course,  and  arrived  at  Malta  on  the  13th  of  April.     Here  he  found 
Mr.  Temple,  who  had  arrived  on  the  23d  of  February,  after  a  voyage  of 
50  days  from  Boston.     Before  he  left  Egypt,  Mr.  Fisk,  in  a  letter  to 
Miss  Hannah  Adams,  suggested  that  the  Female  Jews'  Society  in  Boston 
and  its  vicinity  should  appropriate  its  funds  to  the  support  of  a  missionary 
under  the  direction  of  the  Board,  instead  of  sending  them  to  London,  as 
they  had  done.     The  suggestion  was  approved,  and  the  appropriation  is 
still  annually  made. 

The  Rev.  Jonas  King  was  at  Paris,  studying  under  the     Mr.  King  ouers  his 
celebrated   Orientalist    De  Sacy,  and  availing  himself  of  '"""'' 
the  other  literary  advantages  of  that  capital,  in  preparation  for  a  profes- 
sorship to  which  he  had  been  elected  in  Amherst  College,  when,  in  July, 
he  received  a  letter  from  his  friend  Mr.  Fisk,  at  Malta,  requesting  his 
company  and  assistance  in  his  missionary  travels  and  labors.     He  im- 
mediately laid  it  before  his  friend  and  patron,  Mr.  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  who 
advised  compliance  with  the  request,  and  offered  to  give  $100  a  year 
for  his  support  during  his  contemplated  term  of  service,  which  was  three 
years.     Mr.  Waddington  of  St.  Remy,  Mr.  Mertens  of  Brussels,  Mr. 
Venning  of  St.  Petersburgh,  and  Mr.  Crommelin,  for  the  Rotterdam 
Missionary  Society,  agreed  to  give  500  francs  each  for  the  first  year,  and 
some  of  them  paid  the  same  amount  the  second  and  third  years.     Mr. 
King  immediately  wrote  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary,  offering  his  ser- 
vices to  the  Board.     The  offer  was  accepted  as  soon  as  received ;  but, 
as  time  did  not  permit  him  to  wait  for  an  answer,  he  immediately  com- 
menced preparations  for  his  departure.     Before  he  left  Paris,  a  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  was  formed,  which  appointed  him  its  first  missionary, 
and  appropriated  500  francs  for  his  support.     This  society  has  now 
several  extensive,  well  conducted  and  successful  missions  in  Southern 
Africa. — Mr.  King  left  Paris  on  the  1st  of  October,  and  after  a  journey 
full  of  interesting  incidents,  and  of  much  service  to  the  cause  of  evangeli- 
cal effort  in  the  south  of  France,  embarked  at  Marseilles,  and  arrived  at 
Malta  on  the  third  of  November. 

The  remainder  of  the  year  was  spent  in  preparing  for  their  intend- 
ed journey  to  Palestine.  Meanwhile,  the  gospel  was  preached  four  times 
a  week  to  such  as  would  hear.     On  the  Sabbath,  the  hearers  amounted 


118  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1822. 

to  about  100.     A  Sabbath  School  was  commenced,  and  opportunities 
for  religious  conversation  were  often  found  and  gladly  embracetl. 
EciuoiioD  of  Greek       Ih  October,  two  Grcck  youths,  Photius  Kavasales  and 
^'""'"  Anastasius  Karavelles,  were  committed  to  the  care  of  the 

brethren,  to  be  sent  to  the  United  States  for  a  liberal  education.  The 
interest  excited  by  their  arrival  was  general  and  intense.  In  subsequent 
years,  they  were  followed  by  several  of  their  countrymen,  who  were  gladly 
received  and  sustained  by  those  who  were  anxious  for  the  mental  and 
moral  regeneration  of  Greece. 

Cherokee  M.ssinn  rein.  The  Cherokec  mission  was  strengthened  this  year  by 
'"''"''■  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Proctor  from  New  Hampshire  and  Mr. 

Ellsworth  from  Vermont,  with  their  wives,  in  October,  and  of  Tawchee- 
chy,  Vann,  Fields,  Bassel,  and  others,  Cherokees,  who  had  been  educat- 
ed at  Cornwall,  and  who  arrived  about  the  close  of  the  year.  But  their 
most  interesting  and  perhaps  most  efficient  aid  was  from  the  adult  Che- 
rokee converts.  John  Arch  spent  a  great  part  of  the  year  in  itinerating 
as  an  interpreter  with  Mr.  Butrick  or  Mr.  Chamberlain.  Reece  contin- 
ued faithful.  Mills,  baptized  last  year,  labored  zealously  and  with  good 
effect  in  his  own  neighborhood  ;  as  did  also  the  new  converts  at  Taloney. 
Conversions.  Thcrc  was  more  or  less  seriousness,  during  the  year,  at 

all  the  stations.  At  Brainerd,  there  were  a  few  instances  of  conversions, 
and  additions  to  the  church.  At  Taloney  there  lived  five  brothers,  by  the 
name  of  Sanders,  descendants  of  a  white  man,  who  had  wandered  to  that 
place  from  New  England  more  than  fifty  years  before.  They  had  grown 
up,  and  some  of  them  become  old,  in  all  the  ignorance  and  barbarism  of 
the  people  around  them.  Some  of  them,  for  a  time,  had  been  promi- 
nent opposers  of  the  mission.  Gradually  they  became  interested,  atten- 
tive, penitent,  decided,  active,  and  influential  in  promoting  the  know- 
ledge and  belief  of  Christianity.  One  circumstance  is  worthy  to  be 
recorded,  as  showing  the  change  which  missionary  labors  had  already 
wrought  among  the  Cherokees.  In  one  of  his  letters,  giving  accounts 
of  individual  cases  of  peculiar  interest,  Mr.  Hall  reminded  the  Corres- 
ponding Secretary  that  several  persons  in  the  neighborhood  were  sub- 
scribers to  the  Missionary  Herald,  and  that  nothing  ought  to  be  published 
concerning  any  individual,  which  it  might  injure  him  to  read.  For  this 
reason,  but  very  brief  notices  of  this  work  of  grace  were  published. 
chociaw  Mi.,ion.  Thc  Choctaw  mission  was  still  further  srrengthened  by 

additional  laborers.  Mr.  Philo  P.  Stewart  arrived  at  Mayhew  on  the 
3d  of  January,  and  Mr.  Remington  and  his  wife  on  the  6th  of  March. 
In  December,  Isaac  and  McKee  Folsom  and  Adin  C.  Gibbs  arrived  from 
the  school  at  Cornwall.  Gibbs  was  from  a  more  northern  tribe,  and  had 
been  appointed  an  assistant  missionary.  Miss  Anna  Burnham  arrived 
at  the  same  time. — The  death  of  Mrs.  Kingsbury,  on  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, after  a  short  illness,  was  a  severe  affliction  and  a  heavy  loss. 
F.hoin's  Library.  Scvcral  intcrcsting  incidents  showed  the  progress  of  the 

Choctaws  towards  civilization.    Capt.  David  Folsom,  elder  brother  of  the 


1822.]  CHOCTAW   LEGISLATION.  119 

youths  educated  at  Cornwall,  sent  to  the  Missionary  Rooms  the  follow- 
ing list  of  books,  to  be  purchased  at  his  expense,  for  his  private  library : 
"  Encyclopedia,  bound  in  calf,  last  America  edition  ;  if  no  American  edi- 
tion has  been  published  within  six  or  eight  years,  then  the  last  Edin- 
burgh edition  ;  Scott's  Family  Bible,  (quarto,)  with  the  marginal  referen- 
ces, and  the  maps  designed  to  accompany  it ;  Morse's  or  Worcester's  Uni- 
versal Gazetteer;  Jenks'  Devotion;  Doddridge's  Rise  and  Progress; 
Baxter's  Saints'  Rest,  and  Call  to  the  Unconverted ;  Dwight's  Theolo- 
gy ;  Watts  on  the  Mind ;  Mason  on  Self-knowledge ;  Burder's  Village 
Sermons,  3  vols. ;  J.  Burder's  Sermons  for  Children ;  Scougal's  Life  of 
God  in  the  Soul ;  Babbington  on  Education  ;  Life  of  Brainerd,  by  Rev. 
S.  E.  Dwight,  of  Boston ;  Life  of  Obookiah  ;  Brown's  or  Winslow's 
History  of  Missions;  and  Milner's  Church  History." 

Mr.  Kingsbury  selected  a  place  for  a  small  school  in  the  ci.ocmv  Legislation, 
southeastern  part  of  the  nation,  at  the  "  Long  Prairies."  The  chief 
of  the  Six  Towns,  whose  name  in  English  was  Red  Fort,  was  glad  that 
the  school  was  to  be  established,  but  wished  for  another  in  his  own 
neighborhood.  Mr.  Kingsbury  promised  to  write  to  the  Prudential 
Committee  for  a  teacher,  and  the  chief  enforced  the  request,  by  the 
following  letter,  dated  October  IS  : 

"  Hwoo-LA-TA-Hoo-MAH,  chief  of  the  Six  Towns,  to  the  Society  of  good 
people,  Avho  send  Missionaries  to  the  Choctavvs. 

'•Brothers,  The  first  law  I  have  made  is.  that  when  my  warriors  go  over  the 
hne  among  the  white  people,  and  buy  whisky,  and  bring  it  into  the  nation  to 
buy  up  the  blankets  and  guns  and  horses  ol"  the  red  people,  and  get  them 
drunk  ;  the  whisky  is  to  be  destroyed. 

"The  whisky  drinking  is  wholly  slopped  among  my  warriors. 

"  The  Choctaw  women  have  long  been  in  the  way  of  destroying  their  in- 
fants, when  they  did  not  like  to  provide  for  them.  I  have  made  a  law  to  have 
them  punished,  that  no  more  innocent  children  be  destroyed. 

"  The  Choctaws  formerly  stole  hogs  and  cattle,  and  killed  them.  I  have 
appointed  a  company  of  faithful  warriors  to  take  every  man  who  steals,  and 
lie  him  to  a  tree,  and  give  him  thirty-nine  lashes. 

"  It  has  been  the  custom  with  the  Choctaws,  when  there  are  three  or  four 
sisters,  and  they  marry,  that  they  all  live  together  in  one  house.  1  do  not 
want  it  to  be  so  any  longer.  I  have  told  them  to  move  away  from  each  other, 
and  settle  by  themselves,  and  work,  and  make  fields,  and  raise  provision. 

"  The  Choctaws  have  taken  each  others'  wiv'cs.  and  run  away  Avith  them. 
We  have  now  made  a  law,  that  those  who  do  so,  shall  be  whipt  thirty-nine 
lashes.  And  if  a  woman  runs  away  from  her  husband,  she  is  to  be  whipt  in 
the  same  manner. 

"  The  Choctaws,  some  of  them,  go  to  Mobile  and  New-Orleans.  I  have 
told  my  warriors  to  stay  at  home  and  work;  and  if  they  go,  and  do  not  get 
back  in  time  to  plant  corn,  their  corn  is  to  be  burnt  down. 

"  The  number  of  men,  women  and  children  in  the  Six  Towns,  is  2164. 

"  I  want  the  good  people  to  send  men  and  women  to  set  up  a  school  in  my 
district.  I  want  them  to  do  it  quick.  I  am  growing  old.  I  know  not  how 
long  I  shall  live.  I  want  to  see  the  good  work  before  I  die.  We  have  always 
been  passed  by,  and  have  had  no  one  to  advise  and  assist  us.  Otlier  parts  of 
the  nations  have  schools;  we  have  none.  We  have  made  the  above  laws, 
because  we  wish  to  follow  the  ways  of  the  white  people.  We  hope  they  will 
assist  us  in  getting  our  children  educated. 


120  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1822. 

"  This  is  the  first  time  I  write  a  letter.  Last  fall  the  first  time  we  make 
laws.  I  say  no,  more.  I  have  told  my  wants.  I  hope  you  will  not  forget 
me." 


The  school  at  Mayhew  was  opened  on  the  last  day  of  April  with 
12  scholars.  Provision  was  made  for  the  reception  of  50,  and  the 
number  rapidly  increased. 

Conversions.  All  the  stations  were  favored  with  the  especial  presence 

of  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  were  a  few  instances  of  conversion  at  Elliot 
and  at  Mayhew;  but  the  most  interesting  account  is  from  French 
Camps,  or,  as  it  was  now  called,  Bethel.  Mr.  L.  S.  Wilhams,  who  had 
the  care  of  this  station,  wrote,  June  18  : 

"  The  third  Sabbath  in  May  was  a  memorable  day  to  this  establish- 
ment, and  to  the  Choctaw  mission.  Previous  to  that,  however,  there 
was  one  instance  of  hopeful  conversion  in  the  case  of  a  black  man. 
Some  time  in  the  month  of  March,  he  was  struck  with  an  awful  sense 
of  his  situation,  while  at  work,  and  in  the  very  act  of  cursing  and  swear- 
ing bitterly  at  something  which  vexed  him.  Mr.  Kingsbury,  who 
preached  here  two  Sabbaths  in  that  month,  had  considerable  conversa- 
tion with  him,  and  there  appeared  evidence  that  a  work  of  grace  had 
begun  in  his  heart.  His  conduct  since  bears  testimony  to  the  hope  of 
his  having  experienced  a  saving  change.  But  it  was  on  the  day  above 
mentioned,  that  the  presence  of  God  was  distinctly  manifest.  At  an 
early  hour,  an  unusual  number  of  people,  chiefly  blacks,  assembled.  In 
the  forenoon,  beside  other  exercises,  we  read  one  of  Russell's  seven 
Sermons,  entitled  Joshua's  Resolution  to  serve  the  Lord ;  and,  in  the 
afternoon,  an  account  of  the  revival  in  Pittsfiekl,  Mass.,  with  some  other 
extracts,  accompanied  by  a  portion  of  Scripture  and  an  exhortation.  It 
was  near  the  close  of  the  meeting  that  the  voice  of  weeping  was  heard. 
An  awful  stillness  prevailed,  interrupted  only  by  the  sighs  and  groans  of 
two  or  three  distressed  individuals.  Others  were  affected  to  tears,  and 
some  were  seen  to  tremble  like  condemned  criminals.  But  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  describe  the  scene,  or  my  own  sensations.  One  young  man, 
Mr.  T.,  originally  from  New  England,  who  lives  with  me,  and  had  been, 
during  five  or  six  months  while  living  at  Mayhew,  distressed  for  his 
soul,  found  relief  from  the  burden  of  sin,  and  gave  praise  to  God.  Mr. 
L.,  the  father  of  the  beloved  child  who  died  in  the  faith  at  Elliot, 
had  been  much  pressed  with  a  sense  of  his  guilt,  since  receiving  a  solemn 
admonition  from  his  son,  in  a  letter  written  a  few  weeks  before  his 
death.  Though  strictly  moral  and  upright,  he  had  never  spoken  of  his 
serious  impressions  before  his  family  and  neighbors.  He  was  at  this 
time  so  affected  that  he  could  not  refrain.  He  commenced  family  prayer 
the  same  night,  and  is  now  very  active  in  every  good  work.  An  aged 
black  woman,  formerly  a  church  member  in  Georgia,  and  probably  the 
only  praying  person  in  this  neighborhood  for  several  years,  had  her 
spiritual  strength  greatly  renewed.  '  Long  time,'  she  said, '  have  I 
prayed  for  this  wicked  people.     I  first  used  to  pray  that  judgments  or 


1822.]  ARKANSAS  MISSION.      MISSIONARY  CONVENTION.  121 

afflictions  mio;ht  bring  them  to  repentance ;  but  they  soon  forgot  such 
warnings.  Then  I  pray  the  Lord  to  send  teachers  here  ;  and  I  pray 
four  or  five  years  before  they  come.' 

"  Another  hired  man,  Mr.  R.,  went  to  bed  that  night  in  great  men- 
tal distress.  When  he  arose,  he  felt  ready  to  sink,  but  obtained  comfort 
when  all  earthly  resources  failed.  This  man  had  been  seriously  in- 
clined, and  at  times  very  anxious,  since  last  September;  but  had  spent 
most  of  his  time  in  travelling.  At  length,  hearing  of  these  mission 
establishments,  he  resolved,  if  possible,  to  get  employ  at  some  station 
where  he  might  learn  the  way  of  life.  He  had  passed  our  station  50 
miles,  w^hen  1  met  him  on  my  return  to  Mayhew. 

"  We  may  number,  as  the  happy  fruits  of  this  revival  thus  far,  ten 
adults  who  give  evidence  of  piety.  Four  of  them  are  white  men,  five 
are  blacks,  (slaves,)  and  one  a  free  mulatto.  The  greater  part  of  these 
have  been  notoriously  wicked.  The  change  is  acknowletlged,  by  all 
who  knew  them,  to  be  great.  Ten  or  twelve  more  are  anxiously  in- 
quiring what  they  shall  do  to  be  saved.  All  of  these  are  grow'n  persons, 
except  two  or  three  girls,  about  14  years  of  age." 

On  the  17th  of  November,  a  church  w'as  organized.  Four  of  these 
converts  became  members  at  the  time  of  its  formation,  and  others  after- 
wards. 

The  mission  to  the  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas,  though  Arkansas  wissinn. 
past  its  season  of  peculiar  hardships,  was  still  engaged  in  preparatory 
work,  which  afforded  little  matter  of  general  interest.  Agricultural 
operations  were  continued  and  enlarged,  the  blacksmith's  and  carpen- 
ter's shops  were  in  operation,  and  a  site  was  selected  for  mills.  The 
school  was  opened  on  the  1st  of  January.  It  was  small  at  first,  but  soon 
increased,  and  in  May  contained  50  scholars.  The  congregation  on  the 
Sabbath  began  to  increase,  and  even  early  in  the  year  amounted  to  75. 
The  church  was  organized  on  the  12th  of  April ;  and  on  the  14th,  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  administered  for  the  first  time,  in  the  presence  of  a 
goodly  number  of  spectators,  many  of  whom  had  never  before  witnessed 
such  a  scene. 

When  in  Boston,  before  going  to  the  West,  Mr.  W^ash-  Missionary  convention. 
burn  had  conversed  with  members  of  the  Committee  on  the  expediency 
of  an  associational  meeting  of  western  missionaries.  The  subject  had 
been  subsequently  discussed  at  the  various  stations,  and  by  members  of 
different  missions,  as  opportunities  were  presented.  This  summer, 
definite  arrangements  were  made  and  invitations  sent  out  by  the  Union 
mission.  It  was  resolved  to  accept  the  invitation,  and  Messrs.  Wash- 
burn and  Orr  were  appointed  delegates.  The  other  missions  represent- 
ed were  those  at  Harmony  and  Union,  under  the  care  of  the  United 
Foreign  Missionary  Society.  The  Convention  was  held  at  Union,  in 
the  Osage  nation,  as  the  most  central  station.  It  assembled  on  the  2d 
of  November.  The  Christian  intercourse  thus  afforded  was  highly  grati- 
fying, and  the  deliberations  on  matters  of  common  interest  were  es- 

16 


122  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1822. 

teemed  valuable.     The  meeting  continued  four  days  and  a  half,  and 
then  adjourned  to  meet  the  next  year  at  Dwight. 

"  Wake,  Isles  of  the  South  !  your  redemption  is  near  !" 

Sandwich  isumis  This  favorltc  hymn  was  written  by  William  B.  Tappan, 
Missioa  reinforced.  ^^  reading  the  account  of  the  embarkation  of  the  first  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  was  first  used  in  public  as  a  hymn, 
at  New  Haven,  at  the  embarkation  of  a  reinforcement  of  that  mission, 
on  the  19th  of  November,  1822.  It  has  since  been  translated  into  the 
language  of  iheislands,  and  is  used  as  a  national  song.  The  reinforcement 
consisted  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Wilham  Richards,  Charles  S.  Stewart  and 
Artemas  Bishop,  Dr.  Abraham  Blatchley,  Messrs.  Joseph  Goodrich  and 
James  Ely,  licensed  preachers,  with  their  wives  ;  Mr.  Levi  Chamber- 
lain, superintendent  of  secular  concerns  ;  Miss  Betsey  Stockton,  a  col- 
ored woman  of  good  education,  and  one  native  of  the  Society  Islands 
and  three  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  who  had  been  educated  at  Cornwall. 
The  Ensiish  Depuia-  But  thc  mlsslott  rcccived  an  important  accession  of 
tion.  Mr.  ui.s.  strength  from  an  unexpected  source.  The  Rev.  Daniel 
Tyerman  and  George  Bennet,  Esq.  were  circumnavigating  the  earth, 
as  a  deputation  from  the  London  Missionary  Society  to  its  missions. 
While  at  the  Society  Islands,  and  desirous  to  go,  with  theRev.  Mr.  Ellis, 
and  several  native  converts,  to  the  Marquesas,  to  establish  a  mission  there, 
the  master  of  an  English  vessel  offered  them  a  passage  by  way  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and,  on  the  16th  of  April, 
having  spent  some  days  among  the  islands,  they  entered  the  harbor  of 
Honolulu.  The  deputation  was  joyfully  received  by  the  resident  mis- 
sionaries, and  entertained  at  their  houses.  Meanwhile  Auna,  one  of 
the  deacons  from  the  Society  Islands,  had  received  an  invitation  for  him- 
self and  his  companions,  from  a  confidential  attendant  on  Kaahumanu, 
who  was  now  the  wife  of  Tamoree.  On  entering  the  house,  Auna's 
wufe  soon  discovered  that  their  host  was  her  own  brother,  who  had  left 
Tahiti  when  a  boy,  and  of  whom  she  had  heard  nothing  for  thirty  years. 
Kaahumanu  claimed  the  strangers  as  her  guests,  and,  with  her  appro- 
bation, they  immediately  began  to  give  in^truction  to  her  household, 
and  to  pray  with  them  morning  and  evening.  On  the  10th  of  May, 
Tamoree  and  his  wife  and  many  chiefs  united  in  a  request,  that  Auna 
and  his  companions  might  remain,  and  teach  them  and  the  people  to 
read  and  write  and  worship  Jehovah,  and  that  Mr.  Ellis  would  go  and 
fetch  his  wife  and  children,  and  settle  among  them  as  a  missionary. 
The  thought  was  not  altogether  new.  The  people  at  Hawaii  had  spor- 
tively threatened  to  "  tabu"  Mr.  Ellis,  to  prevent  his  leaving  the  islands. 
The  ship-master  who  brought  them,  had  altered  the  plan  of  his  voyage, 
and  they  knew  not  when  or  how  they  could  reach  the  Marquesas 
Islands.  Here  was  a  vast  field,  white  for  the  harvest  ;  and  here  were 
laborers,  whose  language,  with  slight  variations,  was  that  of  the  peo- 
ple who  needed  their  labors.     The  American  missionaries  approved  the 


1822.]  PRINTING   COMMENCED.      CHIEFS   LEARN   TO   READ.  123 

plan  ;  the  king  gave  his  consent,  and  the  invitation  was  accepted.     The 
deputation  remained  till  the  22d  of  August. 

On  the  first  Monday  in  January,  the  art  of  printing  was  Prinun?  commenced. 
introduced  into  the  islands.  The  sheet  printed  contained  the  first  eight 
pages  of  a  Hawaiian  spelling  book.  Several  masters  of  vessels  and 
others  attended  to  witness  this  important  event.  Kiamoku,  (Gov.  Cox,) 
assisted,  with  his  own  hands,  in  setting  up  the  type  and  taking  a  few  of 
the  first  impressions.  About  six  months  afterwards,  the  second  sheet  of 
eight  pages  was  struck  off.  The  delay  shows  the  extreme  difficulty  of 
ascertaining  the  exact  sounds  of  a  language  never  befoie  written,  and  de- 
vising the  best  methods  of  expressing  them  by  letters  ;  and,  also,  the  care 
of  the  authors  of  Hawaiian  writing,  to  make  their  system  perfect  in  its 
principles  and  in  all  its  details.* 

The  introduction  of  printing  gave  a  new  impulse  to  ed-  chiefs  L-am  to  read. 
ucation.  The  whole  number  of  puj3ils  at  that  time  was  about  65.  Of 
the  first  sheet,  500  copies  were  printed.  Several  of  the  principal  chiefs 
soon  undertook,  in  earnest,  to  learn  to  read  and  write  their  own  lan- 
guage. On  the  first  Monday  in  August,  the  king  resumed  his  studies 
with  characteristic  energy  ;  and  so  rapid  was  his  progress,  that,  on  the 
16th  of  that  month,  he  wrote,  in  a  fair,  legible  hand,  a  letter  of  condo- 
lence to  a  chief  of  one  of  the  Society  Islands,  on  the  death  of  his  son. 
His  example  was  immediately  followed  by  Kaahumanu,  Tamoree,  Kal- 
aimoku,  and  other  principal  chiefs,  and  by  many  other.^  ;  so  that,  in  a 
few  days,  there  were  eight  schools  in  Honolulu,  attended  by  150  pupils. 
In  September,  the  number  under  instruction  was  estimated  at  500. 

The  first  Christian  marriage  was  that  of  Thomas  Hopu,  "  the  faith- 
ful," to  Delia,  a  promising  native,  who  had  been  instructed  in  one  of 
the  mission  families,  and  who  gave  some  evidence  of  piety.  It  took 
place  on  the  11th  of  August, 

The  strictly  spiritual  labors  of  the  mission  were  now  worship  and  instruo- 
prosecuted  to  much  better  advantage  than  formerly.     The 

*  The  Hawaiian  alphabet  contains  twelve  letters  only.  It  has  five  vowels ; 
a,  sounded  as  a  in  father  ;  e,  as  a  in  hate  ;  i,  as  ee  in  feet  ;  o,  as  in  pole,  and  u, 
as  00  in  boot ;  and  seven  consonants,  h,  k,  I,  m,  n,p,  and  w,  sounded  as  in  Eng- 
lish. The  long  English  sound  of  i  is  represented  by  at,  as  in  Lahaina,  where 
the  second  syllable  is  accented,  and  pronounced  like  the  English  word  high. 
The  second  syllable,  wai,  of  Hawaii,  the  name  of  the  largest  of  the  islands,  is 
pronounced  like  the  first  syllable  of  the  English  name  Wyman  ;  and  giviny  the 
letters  the  usual  English  sounds,  it  might  be  spelled  Ha-wy-ee.  The  first 
syllable  should  be  pronounced  very  slightlj^,  and  a  strong  accent  jilaced 
on  the  second.  The  sound  of  ow  is  represented  by  au  ;  as  Maui,  pronounced 
Mow-ee.  The  natives  do  noi  distinguish  the  sounds  of /c  and  tWom  each  niher; 
but  call  the  same  island  sometimes  Kauai  and  sometimes  Tauai,  without  per- 
ceiving the  difference.  In  the  same  way,  r/,  /,  and  r  are  confounded,  ami  the 
same  place  is  called  indifferently  Hido,  Hilo,  or  Iliro.  The  same  occurs  in 
respect  to  w  and  v.  In  fact,  these  interchangeable  consonants  are  very  slight- 
ly and  indistinctly  uttered,  so  that  a  Ibreigner  is  at  a  loss  to  know  which  tlie 
speaker  intends  to  use. — In  this  work  the  old  English  orthography  is  followed 
only  in  writing  a  k\v  words,  mostly  proper  names,  which  had  virtually  been 
transplanted  into  the  English  language  before  the  mission  was  commenced. 


124  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1822. 

spelling  book  contained  easy  sentences  of  Christian  instruction.  The 
missionaries  were  able  sometimes  to  dispense  with  the  aid  of  an  inter- 
preter in  preaching,  and  to  impart  truth  more  intelligibly  in  conversa- 
tion. Mr.  Ellis  could  preach  to  the  natives,  and  Auna  and  his  com- 
panions could  converse  and  pray  with  them  intelligibly,  in  their  own 
language.  Mr.  Ellis  composed  a  few  hymns  in  the  Hawaiian  language, 
which  was  forthwith  introduced  in  public  worship  in  the  chapel,  and  in 
singing  which  the  natives  joined  with  evident  delight. 
Kiamuku's  dream.  The  pcoplc,  gcuerally,  listened  to  the  gospel  with  ap- 

parent interest,  but  continued  "  waiting  for  the  king  to  turn."  A  few, 
however,  were  more  serious,  and  some  even  gave  faint  indications  of 
piety.  Among  these  was  Kaumi,  a  favorite  of  Kiamoku.  On  the 
night  of  July  29,  Kiamoku  had  a  dream,  which  was  evidently  the  re- 
sult of  his  previous  waking  thoughts.  He  dreamed  that  he  saw  the 
island  all  on  fire,  and  could  find  no  hiding  place  for  his  soul.  The  next 
day,  he  requested  Messrs,  Bingham  and  Ellis  to  hold  a  meeting  at  his 
house  in  the  evening,  and  pray  with  him,  and  tell  him  of  the  great  sal- 
vation. Between  40  and  50  assembled.  Mr.  Ellis  preached,  and  Hopu 
oifered  one  of  the  prayers.  The  chief  requested  that  such  a  meeting 
might  be  held  every  evening,  and  that  morning  prayer  might  be  con- 
stantly attended  at  his  house.  The  next  day  he  urged  his  sister,  Kaa- 
humanu,  to  join  with  him  in  turning  to  the  new  way,  and  in  encour- 
aging a  general  attendance  on  the  schools.  She  declined  ;  but  he 
avowed  his  intention  to  learn,  and  to  have  his  people  taught.  His  wife 
and  several  of  his  family  joined  him.  In  a  few  days,  as  has  already 
been  related,  the  king  resumed  his  studies,  and  the  work  of  education 
received  a  new  impulse. 

Of  course,  it  is  difficult  to  form  an  opinion,  and  impossible  to  judge 
with  certainty,  of  the  spiritual  state  of  adult,  uneducated  minds,  just 
emerging  from  the  total  darkness  of  heathenism,  and  attending  with 
interest  to  Christian  truth ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suspect  these  in- 
quirers of  any  deliberate  hypocrisy,  and  we  know  that  several  of  them 
ultimately  became  enlightened  and  consistent  Christians.  It  is  painful 
to  reflect  that  the  king  was  not  of  that  number.  Most  assiduous  efforts 
were  made  by  a  portion  of  the  foreign  residents,  to  keep  him  from  the 
influence  of  the  gospel.  Even  in  the  place  of  worship,  means  were  used 
to  divert  his  mind  from  the  subject  of  the  discourse ;  and  more  than 
once,  he  was  artfully  seduced  into  intoxication,  contrary  to  his  own  de- 
liberate purpose,  for  the  sake  of  preventing  his  attendance  at  the  house 
of  God. 


1823.]  FOREIGN  MISSION   SCHOOL   NOT   TO   BE    REMOVED.  125 


CHAPTER    XV. 

1823. — Meeting  at  Boston. — Foreign  Mission  School  not  to  be  removed. — The 
Bombay  Government  exclude  Missionaries  from  the  Deccan. — Mission 
Chapel  dedicated. — Free  Schools  solicited.— Mission  College  in  Ceylon  pro- 
posed.— Seminary  and  Central  School  for  Girls  commenced. — Palestine 
Mission  reinforced. — Travels  in  Egypt  and  Palestine. — Discussions  with 
Maronites  on  Mount  Lebanon — Stalion  at  Beyroot  commenced. — New 
Stations  and  additional  laborers  among  the  Cherokees. — Small  Stations 
multiplied  among  the  Choctaws. — Mr.  Kingsbury's  Opinion. — Progress  at 
Dwight. — Conversions  at  Point  Remove. — Progress  at  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands.— Law  for  keeping  the  Sabbath. — Reinforcement  arrives. — Stations 
and  their  Occupants. — The  great  Volcano. — House  of  worship  at  Kailua. — 
Kamakau. — Death  of  Keopuolani. — Its  effect  on  the  King. — Conduct  of 
foreign  Residents. — Marriage  of  Hoapili. — The  King  sails  for  England,  and 
dies  there.— Mr.  D.  Chamberlain  returns. — Mission  of  Messrs.  Brighara  and 
Parvin  to  South  America. 

The  Board  met  at  Boston,  September  17  and  18.  The  President, 
the  Hon.  John  Treadwell,  having  been  removed  by  death,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  was  chosen  in  his  place.  The  Hon.  John  Cotton 
Smith  was  chosen  Vice  President,  and  Mr.  Rufus  Anderson,  Assistant 
Corresponding  Secretary.  The  receipts  of  the  Board,  during  the  year, 
had  been  about  $55,758,94,  and  its  expenditures  about  $66,379,75  ; 
besides  donations  in  clothing  and  other  articles,  received  and  expended, 
to  the  estimated  amount  of  more  than  $12,000. 

The  Foreign  Mission  School  reported  36  students,  nearly  all  from 
heathen  lands.  In  March  it  had  25  students,  20  of  whom  were  con- 
sidered pious.  In  August,  eight  of  the  students  were  admitted  to  the 
church.  Some  of  those  who  had  the  immediate  management  of  the 
School,  had  proposed  to  purchase  more  land  and  erect  adclitional  build- 
ings. Others  urged  its  removal  to  the  vicinity  of  some  large  city,  where, 
it  was  thought,  lands  and  buildings  would  be  furnished  gratuitously,  and 
where  the  students  would  be  less  secluded  from  society  ;  not  considering 
that  acquiring  the  tastes  and  habits  of  city  life  would  totally  unfit  them 
for  usefulness  among  their  ignorant  and  uncivilized  countrymen.  After 
discussion,  the  Board  resolved  that  the  School  "  be  considered  as  perma- 
nently established  at  Cornwall."  There  seems  to  have  been  no  suspicion 
that  the  School  must  ultimately  be  discontinued  ;  though  the  annual 
report  mentions  some  of  the  "  serious  difficulties  attending  the  man- 
agement of  its  concerns,"  which,  in  the  end,  led  to  its  discontinuance. 

A  letter  from  the  king  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  thanking  the  Board 
for  sending  missionaries  to  the  Islands,  was  read,  and  the  President  and 
Secretaries  were  directed  to  answer  it. 

Early  in  the  year,  the  Bombay  government  issued  an  Br>mimy  Mi,.ion « 
order,  prohibiting  the  distribution  of  tracts  and  all  mission-  '"'""'■ 


126 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1823. 


ary  efforts  beyond  the  Ghauts.  The  occasion"  was  this.  Two  native 
teachers,  one  of  whom  was  a  Jew,  had  been  sent  to  distribute  books  and 
tracts  at  and  around  Poona.  The  Brahmuns  complained  of  this  to  the 
English  Collector,  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  city,  as  an  interference 
with  their  religion.  The  Collector  seized  the  books,  and  imprisoned 
the  distributors,  and  finally  sent  both  back  to  Bombay.  After  the  order 
was  issued,  Mr.  Hall  prepared  a  memorial,  setting  forth  the  innocent 
and  useful  nature  of  the  mission  and  its  operations,  and  requesting  the 
repeal  of  the  order ;  but  the  Governor  answered,  that  as  the  territory  in 
question  was  but  newly  subjected  to  British  rule,  the  request  could  not 
be  granted  with  safety  to  the  public  peace.  The  order  related  not  merely 
to  the  American  mission.  Mr.  Mitchell,  sent  out  by  the  Scottish  Mis- 
sionary Society,  was  forbidden  to  settle  at  Poona,  and  took  up  his 
residence  at  Bankok.  By  another  act,  the  government  showed  itself 
free  from  hostility  to  the  American  mission.  Application  being  made 
for  a  small  piece  of  land  as  a  burying  ground,  it  was  readily  granted, 
and  inclosed  with  a  substantial  wall  of  masonry  at  the  public  expense. 
This  unsolicited  addition  of  a  wall  was  the  more  gratifying,  because  it 
showed  that  the  Government  regarded  the  mission  as  permanent. 


Mission  Chapel  at  Bombay.     Erected  in  1823. 


ci.npei  opened.  Thc  Mlssion  Chapel  was  dedicated  on  the  last  Friday 

in  May.  A  good  number  of  English  and  natives  attended.  Some  of 
the  schoolmasters  and  boys,  who  had  been  trained  for  the  purpose,  sang 
two  Christian  hymns  in  the  Mahratta  language.  From  that  time,  public 
worship  was  regularly  attended  at  ihe  Chapel  on  the  Sabbath  j  in  En- 
glish in  the  morning,  and  in  Mahratta  in  the  afternoon. 


1823.]  SEMINARY  AT   CEYLON    COMMENCED.  127 

The  press,  besides  doin^  the  printing  of  the  mission,  ren-  Th«  i're«. 
derediraportant  services  to  the  Scottish  Missionary  Society,  the  Belgaum 
Religious  Association,  and  other  kindred  societies.  The  Bombay  Bible 
Society  contributed  largely  towards  an  edition  of  Genesis  and  of  the  New 
Testament,  considering  the  copies  printed  with  its  funds  as  it  own,  but 
making  the  mission  its  agent  for  distributing  the  greater  part  of  them. 

At  one  meeting  for  business,  the  mission  was  obliged  The  sdmoh. 

to  decline  thirteen  applications  for  the  establishment  of  free  schools,  for 
want  of  funds.  About  $1,300  was  subscribed  in  Bombay,  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  free  schools  under  the  care  of  the  mission.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  schools,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  was  26.  The  number  of  scholars 
was  1,454,  of  whom  136  were  children  of  Jews.  The  boarding  school 
in  the  family  of  Mr.  Nichols,  at  Tannah,  contained  26  pupils.  The  sum 
paid  for  16  of  these  pupils,  by  their  parents,  defrayed  the  whole 
expenses  of  the  family,  including  house-rent.  The  income  of  the 
school  in  Mr.  Hall's  family,  from  the  same  source,  was  sufficient  to 
meet  his  family  expenses,  excepting  house-rent. 

Mr.  Money,  the  early  friend  of  the  mission,  was  now  pu„,  f„r  t„iarge- 
in  England,  a  member  of  Parliament.  Mr.  Hall  wrote  to 
him,  requesting  him  to  inform  the  Board  how  applications  might  most  suc- 
cessfully be  made,  for  permission  for  more  missionaries  to  reside  at  Bom- 
bay. Mr.  Money  wrote,  through  Mr.  Wilder,  at  Paris,  urging  the  imme- 
diate appointment  of  additional  missionaries,  and  promising  to  use  hisin- 
influence  in  their  favor.  Mr.  Edmund  Frost,  who  had  completed  his 
theological  studies  at  Andover  on  the  24th  of  September,  was  ordain- 
ed the  next  day,  and  on  the  27th  embarked  at  Boston  for  Calcutta. 
Mrs.  Graves,  whose  health  was  much  improved,  returned  with  him  to 
India. 

An  important  part  of  the  communications  from  the  f^y'on-  p»p"»  i°"- 
Ceylon  mission,  for  this  year,  is  supposed  to  have  perished  in  the  ship 
Edward  Newton,  which  was  burnt  on  her  passage  from  Calcutta.  It 
is  known,  however,  that  there  was  an  increase  of  attendance  of  the  hea- 
then on  preaching,  and  of  the  number  of  schools  and  pupils.  At  the 
close  of  the  year,  five  members  had  been  received  into  the  church,  and 
there  were  several  candidates  for  admission. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  the  brethren  published  their      seminary  commen- 
plan  for  a  mission  college.     The  immediate  objects  pro- 
posed were  : 

"  1.  To  impart  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  English  language,  as 
the  only  way  to  unlock  the  treasures  whi.'h  that  language  contains. 

"  2.  The  cultivation  of  Tamul  literature ;  which  is  necessary  in  order 
to  oppose  idolatry  most  successfully,  and  in  order  to  raise  up  a  reading 
population. 

"  3.  The  study  of  Sanscrit  by  a  select  few,  from  among  those  who 
may  be  designed  for  native  preachers. 

"  4.  To  teach  Hebrew,  and  in  some  cases  Latin  and  Greek,  to  those 
native  preachers  who  may  be  employed  as  translators  of  the  Scriptures. 


128  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1823. 

"  5.  To  teach,  as  far  as  the  circumstances  of  the  country  require,  the 
sciences  usually  studied  in  the  colleges  of  Europe  and  America." 

Without  "waiting  to  raise  funds,  erect  buildings  and  procure  profess- 
ors, which  the  interests  of  the  mission  would  not  permit,  the  seminary 
was  put  into  operation  as  a  central  school,  at  Batticotta,  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  Poor,  on  the  22d  of  July.  It  was  opened  with  36  scholars, 
selected  from  the  boarding  schools.  The  number  was  increased  to  47 
during  the  year.  They  were  divided  into  three  classes,  under  the  care 
of  three  monitors.  Gabriel  Tissera  conducted  the  evening  services, 
w^hich  consisted  of  reading  the  Scriptures,  singing  and  prayer  in  Tamul, 
and  held  a  weekly  meeting  with  the  students  for  religious  conversation. 

A  central  school  for  girls  was  opened  at  Oodooville,  under  the  care 
of  Mrs.  Winslow.  To  make  room  for  them,  the  boys  were  removed  to 
other  stations  on  the  30th  of  July.  The  school  commenced  with  22 
girls,  collected  from  the  boarding  schools.  The  number  was  soon  in- 
creased to  29,  several  of  whom  gave  pleasing  evidence  of  piety. 
p.iiesiine  Mission.  Thc  mcmbcrs  of  the   Palestine  mission  were  active  in 

their  several  departments.  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Wilham  Goodell  and 
Isaac  Bird,  who  had  sailed  from  New  York  in  December  to  reinforce 
the  mission,  arrived  at  Malta  on  the  22d  of  January.  They  remained 
there  about  nine  months,  chiefly  occupied  in  the  study  of  languages. 
Mr.  Temple  was  fully  occupied  with  the  press.  By  the  middle  of  Oc- 
tober, IS  tracts  had  been  printed,  averaging  about  50  pages,  and 
amounting  to  15,000  copies.  Ihe  press  was  then  employed  upon  a 
spelling  book  in  Modern  Greek,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  S.  S.  Wilson,  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society. 

Labors  in  Egypt.  Mcssrs.  Flsk  aud  King,  with  the  Rev.  Joseph  Wolff, 

left  Malta  on  the  3d  of  January,  and  arrived  at  Alexandria  on  the  10th. 
While  here,  they  had  a  congregation  of  150  Greeks  on  the  Sabbath. 
The  gospel  was  also  preached  in  English,  German  and  Italian.  Their 
preaching  produced  "  no  small  stir."  The  Superior  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Convent  applied  at  the  British  Consulate,  to  have  the  mission- 
aries prevented  from  preaching  in  Italian.  Efforts  w^ere  also  made, 
from  the  same  source,  to  prevent  the  distribution  of  Bibles  and  tracts. 
But  all  this  opposition  was  vain.  The  "  common  people,"  and  some  of 
the  better  part  of  the  clergy,  were  on  the  side  of  the  mission.  After  a 
short  stay,  they  proceeded  to  Cairo,  and  thence  up  the  Nile  as  far  as 
Thebes,  visiting  the  most  interesting  remains  of  ancient  Egyptian 
grandeur,  but  principally  engaged  in  religious  conversation,  and  in  the 
distribution  of  the  Scriptures  and  tracts.  After  an  absence  of  about 
two  months,  they  returned  to  Cairo.  They  had,  since  their  arrival,  pro- 
claimed the  gospel,  by  preaching  and  conversation,  in  the  English, 
French,  Italian,  German,  Greek,  Hebrew  and  Arabic  languages,  and 
distributed  about  800  volumes  of  Scripture  and  2,000  tracts.  A  large 
part  of  these  were  sold,  and  many  of  them  to  Coptic  Christians,  who 
eagerly  embraced  this  opportunity  to  procure  the  written  word  of 
God. 


1823.]  DISCUSSION   WITH   MAEOXITES   OX   MOUNT  LEBANON.  129 

Leaving  Cairo  on  the  7th  of  April,  with  a  caravan  of 


SiratT-er    in 


about  70  persons,  and  taking  the  route  nearest  the  Medi- 
terranean, they  arrived  at  Gaza  on  the  10th,  at  Jaffa  on  the  22d,  and  at 
Jerusalem,  on  the  25th,  They  held  the  Monthly  Concert  of  prayer  for 
May  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives.  The  demand  for  books  was  greater 
than  they  could  supply.  In  two  months,  84  copies  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  sold,  and  ^  given  away,  and  770  tracts  distributed.  Hav- 
ing visited  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan,  Mr.  Fisk  and  Mr.  King  de- 
parted on  the  27th  of  June  for  ^Mount  Lebanon.  On  the  10th  of  July, 
they  arrived  at  Beirut  [Beyroot],  the  ancient  Ben>"tus,  situated  on  the 
Mediterranean,  at  the  western  base  of  Mount  Lebanon.  This  place 
they  selected,  as  the  most  advantageous  site  for  a  mission  in  Syria. 
"While  in  Egrypt,  they  bad  become  acquainted  with  the  Emir  Beshir, 
who  had  offended  the  Sultan,  and  fled  to  Egjpt  to  save  his  life.  He 
had  given  them  letters  of  introduction  to  his  friends  on  Mount  Lebanon. 
Having  made  his  peace  with  the  Sultan  and  returned  to  his  capital,  the 
brethren  paid  him  a  visit,  were  entertained  at  his  palace,  and  received 
from  him  a  firman  for  travelling  in  all  parts  of  his  dominions.  They 
next  visited  the  Rev.  Lewis  Way,  of  the  London  Jews'  Society,  at  Antiira, 
where  he  had  hired,  for  the  use  of  missionaries  to  Palestine,  a  building 
erected  for  a  Jesuits'  collefre.  Here  Mr.  Fisk  spent  the  summer.  Mr. 
King  went  to  reside  at  Deir  el  Kamar,  near  the  Emir  Beshir.  He 
took  lodgings  with  Yiis iif  Damiani,  whose  son  was  his  instructer  in  Ara- 
bic. A  few  extracts  from  his  journal  will  show  the  character  of  the 
discussions  that  took  place,  both  here  and  elsewhere  during  these  jour- 
neyings.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Maronites,  among  whom 
he  now  was,  are  Roman  Catholics. 

"  Lord's  day,  Aug.  10.  Spent  the  day  in  reading  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  in  meditation.  Also  read  in  the  Psalms  in  Arabic,  as  divi- 
ded into  lessons  for  each  day  in  the  week,  and  intermixed  with  prayers 
to  God  and  Christ,  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  followed  by  the  canons 
of  the  church,  and  what  are  called  the  ten  commandments  given  by 
God  to  Moses.  These  ten  commandments  are  prefaced  nearly  in  the 
following  manner  ; — '  The  ten  commandments,  according  as  God  wrote 
them  upon  two  tables  of  stone,  and  handed  down  to  us,  the  church.' 
One  would  expect,  of  course,  to  find  them  as  given  by  Moses  ;  but  the 
second  commandment  is  entirely  left  out,  and  the  tenth  is  divided  into 
two,  so  as  to  make  out  the  number  ten.  The  fourth  also  says,  observe 
the  first  day,  and  the  feast  days. 

"  Soon  after  I  had  read  this,  the  Superior  of  the  convent  came  in, 
and  I  remarked  to  him  what  I  had  read  ;  and  observed  that  these  were 
not  the  ten  commandments  delivered  to  Moses  ; — that  there  was  an- 
other. He  seemed  angr}%  and  tried  to  make  me  believe  that  I  was  under 
a  mistake.  I  told  him  it  was  in  vain  for  him  to  do  this,  for  I  had  read 
the  ten  commandments  in  Hebrew  ;  and  every  body  knew  that  there 
was  another  commandment,  which  is,  '  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee 
any  graven  image,  nor  the  likeness  of  any  thing  that  is  in  heaven  above, 

17 


130  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1823. 

in  the  earth  beneath,'  &c.  I  really  felt  so  indignant  that  any  man 
should  dare  take  away  one  of  the  commands  of  God.  that  I  told  the 
priest  plainly,  that  it  was  an  impious  thing,  and  a  lie,  to  say,  these  are 
the  ten  commandments  of  God,  written  on  two  tables  of  stone,  while  the 
second  was  entirely  left  out,  the  fourth  changed,  and  the  tenth  divided. 
My  instructer  replied,  'If  these  are  the  commands  of  the  church,  they 
are  the  commands  of  God.'  This  I  denied  ;  and  told  him  how  one  Pope 
had  said  one  thing,  and  the  succeeding  Pope,  another,  in  direct  contra- 
diction to  it  ;  and  asked  him  if  he  thought  both  were  from  God  ?  '  No,' 
said  I, '  God  never  acts  in  this  manner.     It  is  man, — erring  man.' 

"  19.  My  teacher  would  not  believe  that  the  priests  had  kept  back 
the  second  command,  viz.  '  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image,'  &c.,  and  said  he  wrould  bring  a  Jew  to  see  me,  and  ask  him 
whether  that  command  was  in  the  Jewish  books.  '  Bring  him,'  said  I, 
'  for  every  Jew  knows  that  this  is  the  second  command  given  by  God  to 
Moses.'  He  had  in  the  morning  read  this  in  my  Arabic  Bible,  but,  as 
it  was  printed  in  England,  he  doubted  its  authenticity.  After  a  long 
discussion  he  sent  for  a  Bible  that  he  said  was  printed  at  Rome,  and 
must  be  true.  I  immediately  opened  to  the  20th  chapter  of  Exodus, 
and  told  him  to  read  ;  and  he,  to  his  astonishment,  found  that  I  had  told 
him  the  truth. 

"  Sept.  4.  In  the  evening  the  principal  priest  of  the  village  called 
on  Mr.  King,  and  introduced  a  discussion  by  inquiring  whether  the 
mother  of  Jesus  had  any  children  subsequently  to  his  birth.  To  this 
question  Mr.  King  replied,  by  showing  some  reasons  which  in  his  view 
rende  ed  it  probable  that  she  had. 

"  '  God  forbid,' — said  the  Priest  in  a  rage, — '  God  forbid,'  '  God 
pardon  us  ;'  '  God  pardon  us  ;' — and  left  the  room  in  anger.  I  imme- 
diately followed  him  to  the  room  where  he  had  gone,  and  sat  down 
with  the  family.  He  was  talking  about  me  in  a  great  rage,  but 
I  did  not  mind  that  ;  I  went  and  took  my  seat  close  by  his  side. 
My  instructer,  fearing  that  we  should  have  a  quarrel,  begged  me 
not  to  go,  but  I  persisted  and  went.  As  1  sat  down  by  him  he  turned 
his  face  from  me,  as  if  I  were  a  miscreant, — a  person  to  be  despised  by 
all  men.  I  said  mildly,  '  Abuna,  I  wish  to  say  one  thing  ; — we  profess 
to  be  disciples  of  Christ, — his  followers  ;  and  it  does  not  become  us  to 
speak  with  anger.  Christ  was  humble  ;  and  when  men  opposed  him  he 
did  not  fall  into  a  passion.'  'True,' — said  the  Priest,  lowering  his 
voice  and  turning  towards  me.  I  continued,—'  I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ ; 
and  he  is  all  in  all  to  my  soul.  If  I  in  sincerity  believe  in  him,  am  I 
not  a  Christian?'  'Yes,'  said  he. — 'Now,'  said  I,  '  by  this  shall  all 
men  know^  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  we  have  love  one  to  another.' 
Here  are  Mussulmans  around  us,  and  many  who  do  not  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Let  us  show  to  them  and  to  the  world,  that  we  are  Christians, 
by  our  love  one  to  another,  and  by  our  meekness.  If  I  am  in  the  dark, 
I  wish  to  be  enlightened.  I  do  not  wish  to  remain  in  the  dark  and  go 
to  destruction.' 


1823.}  CHEROKEE   MISSION.  131 

"  While  I  said  this,  the  eyes  of  all  were  fastened  on  us,  and  the  whole 
house  was  silent.  The  Padre  seemed  confused  and  ashamed,  and  se- 
cretly convinced  that  I  was  right ;  and  said,  '  What  you  say  is  true.'  I 
then  proceeded,  '  I  have  one  question  to  ask  you,  Abuna,  and  then  I 
have  done.  When  Jesus  Christ  commissioned  his  disciples  to  go  and 
preach,  what  did  he  tell  them  to  preach,  him  or  his  mother  ?  What 
did  they  preach  1  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  Salvation  alone 
through  his  blood  and  intercession.  Not  one  word  about  the  Virgin 
Mary,  his  mother.  There  is  not  a  syllable  in  all  the  Epistles  of  the 
Apostles  of  Christ  about  the  Virgin  Mary.  No  ; — Jesus  Christ  is  all 
in  all.  He  was  such  to  the  disciples  of  Christ ; — he  is  such,  I  trust,  to 
my  own  soul  ; — and  he  must  be  such  to  every  Christian.' — All  present 
listened  attentively,  and  he  replied,  with  calmness,  'When  you  get  so 
as  to  understand  Arabic  well,  I  shall  be  glad  to  converse  with  you  more.' 
At  this  I  bid  him  good  night  and  returned  to  my  room.  Sitting  down 
with  my  instructer,  I  said  to  him,  '  Was  it  well  that  I  went  to  the  priest  V 
He  replied,  '  0,  Mr.  King,  there  is  no  man  like  unto  thee; — I  never  saw 
a  man  like  unto  thee.'  " 

Messrs,  Goodell  and  Bird  arrived  at  Beyroot  on  the  16th  of  Novem- 
ber, in  23  days  from  Malta.  Mr.  Abbott,  the  English  Consul,  kindly 
entertained  them  in  his  own  house,  till  they  had  hiied  one  for  their  own 
use.  Mr.  Fisk  had  already  gone  to  Jerusalem.  Mr.  King  came  down 
from  the  mountains  and  joined  them  on  the  18th.  Here  they  spent  the 
remainder  of  the  year. 

The  journal  of  the  mission  at  Brainerd  mentions  some  Cherokee  Mission. 
additions  to  the  church,  and  some  instances  of  conversion,  but  no  period 
of  general  seriousness.  At  Taloney,  a  church  was  organized  in  April, 
when  six  Cherokees  were  admitted,  and  their  households,  21  in  number, 
were  baptized.  The  seriousness  continued  through  the  year.  At  the 
earnest  request  of  the  people,  three  new  stations  w^ere  formed,  and  schools 
opened  at  all  of  them.  One  was  at  Willstown,  by  Mr.  Chamberlain. 
Another  was  formed  by  Mr.  John  C.  Ellsworth  at  Turnip  Mountain, 
where  the  Cherokee  convert,  S.  J.  Mills,  had  been  laboring  for  more 
than  a  year  to  teach  the  people  the  way  of  salvation.  This  was  called 
Haweis,  in  memory  of  a  venerable  friend  of  missions  in  England,  lately 
deceased,  whose  widow  had  given  jESO  to  the  Board  for  Indian  missions, 
on  condition  that  one  of  the  stations  should  bear  his  name.  The  third 
was  formed  by  Mr.  Isaac  Proctor,  on  the  Etowee,  or  as  the  name  was 
corruptly  pronounced  by  the  whites,  the  Hightower  river.  Mr.  Bu- 
trick  spent  the  most  of  the  year  in  itinerating,  accompanied  by  John 
Arch,  as  his  interpreter.  He  travelled  about  2000  miles,  and  held  about 
150  meetings.  He  was  everywhere  well  received,  though  in  many 
parts  of  of  the  nation  the  spiritual  darkness  was  profound  ;  so  that  John 
said  he  could  begin  to  see  the  light  when  he  came  within  forty  miles  of 
Brainerd.  In  November,  a  large  reinforcement  arrived,  a  part  of  which 
was  destined  to  strengthen  the  Choctaw  mission.  It  consisted  of  Messrs. 
Samuel  Moseley,  licensed  preacher  j  David  Wright  and  David  Gage, 


132  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1823. 

teachers  ;  William  Holland  and  Josiah  Hemingway,  farmers  ;  Ebene- 
zer  Bliss,  mechanic  ;  the  wives  of  all  except  the  two  last  mentioned  ; 
Miss  Electa  May,  Miss  Sophia  Sawyer  and  Miss  Philena  Thatcher.  It 
had  been  found  that  sinc^le  female  assistants  usually  married  soon  after 
joining  the  mission  ;  thus  increasing  the  nmnber  of  mission  families  and 
the  need  of  unmarried  help.  Those  now  sent  out  were  accepted  on  the 
condition,  that  if  they  should  marry  without  the  approbation  of  the  Com- 
mittee, previously  obtained,  their  connection  with  the  mission  should 
cease,  but  without  censure. 

On  the  iSthof  July,  the  mission  was  bereaved  of  their  valuable  as- 
sistant Catherine  Brown,  the  first  fruit  of  their  labors,  and  perhaps  the 
idol  of  the  mission  and  its  patrons.     Her  end  was  peace. 
choeiaws.  Change         Thc  Choctaw  misslon  was  deprived  of  the  services  of 
ofpiiui.  -jyj-^^  Remington,  by  the  failure  of  his  health.     He  left  in 

January.  It  was  strengthened  in  the  spring  by  the  arrival  of  Mr.  An- 
son Gleason,  Mr.  Stephen  S.  Macomber,  and  Miss  Vina  Everett. 

The  measles  prevailed  extensively  in  the  nation,  and  many  children 
were  removed  from  the  schools,  lest  they  should  be  sick  at  a  distance 
from  home.  Whisky  dealers,  who  apprehended  a  diminution  of  their 
gains,  began  to  circulate  injurious  reports  concerning  the  mission,  and 
with  some  temporary  success.  Mr.  Kingsbury  was  much  occupied  in 
attending  councils  and  visiting  different  parts  of  the  nation,  to  counter- 
act their  influence.  On  the  i2th  of  May,  a  council  was  held  at  Moo- 
shoolatubbee's,  when  full  explanations  appeared  to  satisfy  all  parties. 

At  this  council,  the  chiefs  urged  the  establishment  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  small  schools,  in  different  parts  of  the  nation.  This  request  the 
Prudential  Committee  regarded  as  "one  out  of  many  indications  of  Pro- 
vidence that  the  plan  of  the  missions  must  be  so  far  changed,  that  the 
number  of  small  schools  must  be  increased,  and  the  expense  of  the  lar- 
ger stations  diminished."  On  this  subject,  the  Corresponding  Secretary 
had  already  written  to  Mr.  Kingsbury,  mentioning,  among  other  con- 
siderations, the  blessings  which  had  been  bestowed  on  Creek  Path,  Ta- 
loney  and  Bethel.     Mr.  Kingsbury  replied,  June  5  : 

"I  feel  great  relief  in  my  own  mind,  in  the  idea  of  small  schools,  where 
the  burden  of  boarding  can  lall  on  the  parents.  I  have  trembled  in  view  of 
this  accumulation  of  property,  and  worldly  business,  and  worldly  cares.  I  have 
felt  the  sad  effects  of  it  on  my  own  soul,  and  have  seen  it  in  olhers.  I  hope 
we  are  beginning  to  see  the  way  out.  I  am  not  at  all  anxious  that  the  schools 
at  Mayhew  and  Elliot  should  exceed  50  or  60.  Our  Heavenly  Father  is  or- 
dering every  circumstance  in  the  most  kind  and  favorable  manner  tor  us,  as 
well  as  for  the  cause.  The  natives,  by  finding  fault  with  us,  and  wishing  to 
have  their  children  nearer  home,  will  induce  that  system  of  operations  which 
will  eventually  effect  the  object  with  the  least  expense  and  the  least  trouble. 
We  cannot  expect  to  bring  forward  children  as  fast  in  all  parts  of  education; 
but  the  progress  will  be  likely  to  be  more  sure,  and  the  effect  more  extensive." 

The  journal  kept  at  Majhew,  for  May  28,  expresses  the  same  opin- 
ions.   It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  change  of  mind 


1823.]  ARKANSAS   MISSION.       SANDWICH   ISLANDS.       PROGRESS.  133 

sprung  from  indolence,  imbecility  and  embarrassed  finances.  The  large 
establishments  at  Elliot  and  Mayhew  had  been  managed  with  a  very 
uncommon  degree  of  energy,  skill  and  success;  insomuch  that  Mr. 
Kingsbury  wrote  to  the  Corresponding  Secretary,  offering  to  relinquish 
$1,000  of  the  appropriation  for  Choctaw  missions,  and  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  requesting  that  a  large  sura,  due  from  the  government  as  an 
annual  appropriation,  might  be  reserved  for  some  future  exigency. 

In  conformity  with  these  views,  Mr.  Gibbs  was  sent  to  open  a  school 
at  the  house  of  Mooshoolatubbee,  and  Mr.  Hadden,  a  pious  young  man 
from  Kentucky,  to  open  another  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Juzon,  a  French- 
man with  a  half-breed  family.  The  school  at  Emmaus,  the  station  se- 
lected last  year  by  Mr.  Kingsbury  at  the  Long  Prairies,  was  open  in 
July,  by  Messrs.  Jewell  and  Dyer.  Another  station  was  commenced  by 
Mr.  Wright  and  Mr.  Bardwell,  about  50  miles  west  from  Emmaus,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Hwoo-la-ta-hoomah,  whose  code  of  laws  has  been  given 
on  a  preceding  page.  It  was  called  Goshen.  Mr.  Wright  commenced 
his  residence  here  in  July,  with  McKee  Folsom  as  an  interpreter. 

Of  spiritual  blessings,  this  year,  little  can  be  said.  A  few  blacks 
and  others  were  added  to  the  church,  but  no  Choctaws. 

The  mission  at  Dvvight,  being  provided  with  better  Arkansas  Mission. 
homes  than  formerly,  enjoyed  better  health,  and  all  the  departments  of 
their  labors  were  carried  on  more  extensively  and  advantageously.  The 
school,  of  about  60  children,  was  divided,  and  the  girls  put  under  the  care 
of  Miss  Stetson.  With  David  Brown,  the  brother  of  Catherine,  who  had 
returned  from  his  studies  at  Cornwall,  for  an  interpreter,  the  gospel  was 
more  abundantly  preached  to  the  Cherokees,  and  their  attendance  upon 
preaching  increased.  At  Point  Remove,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  nation, 
adjoining  the  white  settlements,  where  the  English  language  was  exten- 
sively understood,  an  awakening  commenced  in  June,  and  continued  to  in- 
crease for  several  months.  Here,  the  labors  of  the  brethren  at  Dwight 
were  earnestly  demanded,  and  evidently  useful.  Several  conversions 
took  place ;  but  their  number  is  not  known,  and  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  united  with  the  mission  church.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  an 
increased  seriousness  was  observed  at  Dwight,  which,  in  the  end,  did 
not  disappoint  their  hopes.  Meanwhile,  sentiments  favorable  to  the  mis- 
sion, to  education  and  good  morals,  were  gradually  gaining  ground. 
One  Cherokee  trader  refused  to  sell  goods  on  the  Sabbath ;  and  two, 
who  had  furnished  about  half  the  whisky  consumed  in  the  nation,  dis- 
continued the  traffick. — The  missionary  convention  at  Dvvight  was 
attended  according  to  appointment,  and  was  pleasant  and  profitable. 

The  first  monthly  concert  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  sandwich  wand.. 
w^hich  the  natives  united,  was  held  at  Honolulu,  on  the  6th  ^'"'='"' 
of  January.  Here,  Christian  instruction  seemed  to  be  taking  deep  root. 
Besides  the  king  and  his  brother,  twelve  chiefs  and  as  many  distinguish- 
ed women,  who  were  learning  to  read  and  write,  the  seven  classes  m 
the  school  contained  about  200  pupils.  At  the  examination,  the  king 
sent  in  his  neat  copy  book  for  inspection ;  accompanied  by  a  letter,  in 


134  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1823. 

■which  he  said,  "  Let  us  hear  and  observe  the  words  of  the  ministers  and 
lovers  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  our  souls  may  go  in  the  right  way  to  hea- 
ven, and  be  saved  by  him."  A  httle  son  of  Mr.  Bingham,  less  than 
three  weeks  old,  died  on  the  16th.  A  "possession  of  a  burying  place" 
was  requested  of  the  rulers  of  the  land,  and  granted,  and  there  the  in- 
fant was  interred,  with  Christian  solemnities.  On  the  22d,  the  little  half 
sister  of  the  king  died,  and  at  his  request,  received  Christian  burial.  At 
the  close  of  the  monthly  concert  in  February,  the  chiefs  held  a  consul- 
tation respecting  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  The  king  had  written 
to  Kalairaoku,  enjoining  its  observance,  and  imposing  a  fine  of  one  dol- 
lar on  any  one  who  should  be  found  at  work  on  that  day.  In  the  eve- 
ning, the  crier  was  sent  round  the  place  to  proclaim  the  law.  In 
March,  Hoapili,  the  husband  of  Keopuolani,  the  king's  mother,  was  sent 
to  take  charge  of  the  island  of  Maui;  and  at  his  own  request  was  fur- 
nished with  books,  that  he  and  his  wife  might  pursue  their  studies. 
Puaaiki,  a  blind  man,  who  had  formerly  been  a  sort  of  minstrel  to  the 
court,  but  who  now  appeared  to  possess  more  spiritual  light  than  any 
other  native  on  the  islands,  went  with  them,  to  perform,  with  such  abi- 
lity as  he  had,  the  duties  of  a  domestic  chaplain.  He  has  since  acted 
an  important  part  in  the  history  of  the  mission.* 

The  reinforcement  which  sailed  fi'om  New  Haven  in  November, 
was  received  with  joy  by  the  king,  chiefs  and  people,  on  the  27th  of 
April.  Their  voyage  had  been  pleasant,  and  not  without  spiritual  bene- 
fit to  the  crew  with  which  they  sailed.  The  chiefs  of  the  several  islands 
were  all  anxious  to  have  some  of  the  company  stationed  near  them- 
selves; and  in  the  end,  Messrs.  Thurston,  Goodrich,  Bishop  and  Rug- 
gles  were  stationed  on  Hawaii,  the  two  former  at  Kailua  and  the  others 
at  Hilo;  Messrs.  Richards  and  Stewart  at  Lahaina,  on  Maui;  Messrs. 
Bingham  and  Ellis  at  Honolulu,  on  Oahu;  and  Messrs.  Whitney  and 
Ely  at  Waimea,  on  Kauai.  Mr.  Looniis,  with  the  press,  was  stationed 
at  Honolulu,  which  was  also  the  home  of  Mr.  Chamberlain,  superinten- 
dent of  secular  concerns.  Dr.  Blatchley  was  to  visit  the  several  stations, 
as  needed,  but  to  reside  principally  for  the  present,  at  Kailua. 
Tour  round  Hawaii.  Preparatory  to  this  distribution,  Messrs.  Ellis,  Thurston, 
Bishop  and  Goodrich  made  a  tour  round  the  island  of  Hawaii,  examining 
its  various  districts,  conversing  with  the  natives,  and  preaching  the  gospel 
130  different  times.  In  the  course  of  this  tour,  they  visited  the  great  cra- 
ter of  Kilauea,  the  Niagara  of  volcanoes.  About  20  miles  from  the  sea, 
at  the  foot  of  the  snow-capt  Mouna  Loa,  they  found  a  plain,  15  or  16 
miles  in  circumference,  sunk  from  200  to  400  feet  below  its  natural  level. 
Descending  by  a  difficult  path  to  this  plain,  they  came,  near  its  centre,  to 
an  immense  crescent-shaped  chasm,  seven  miles  and  a  half  in  circumfer- 
ence, and  about  one  thousand  feet  deep,  in  the  bottom  of  which  51  cra- 

*  The  unpublished  journal  of  a  female  missionary  states  that  he  is  not  ab- 
solutely blind,  but  so  very  near-sighted,  that  he  cannot  walk  with  safety  with- 
out a  guide. 


1823.]  KAILUA  REOCCUPIEP.      DEATH   OF   KEOPUOLANI.  135 

ters,  of  various  form  and  size,  21  of  which  constantly  emitted  columns 
of  smoke  or  pyramids  of  brilliant  flame,  rose  like  conical  islands  from 
the  surface  of  the  burning  lake.  Here  superstition  had  placed  the  abode 
of  the  terrific  Pele,  whose  presence  none  might  approach,  and  whose 
anger  must  be  averted  by  offerings  of  fruits  and  sacrifices  of  beasts  and 
men,  lest  she  should  rend  the  island  with  earthquakes,  or  whelm  it  in 
torrents  of  fire.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  in  disregard  of  all  her  rites,  and 
in  defiance  of  her  priests,  men  advanced  boldly  into  her  domains,  ate 
the  forbidden  fruits  growing  around  her  dwelling,  slept  upon  its  brink 
and  descended  into  its  depths,  declaring  to  the  wondering  islanders, 
that  the  whole  was  only  one  of  the  displays  of  Jehovah's  power.  Their 
astonished  companions  exclaimed,  "  Great  indeed  is  the  God  of  the 
foreigners  !     Weak  is  Pele." 

The  station  at  Kailua  on  Hawaii  was  resumed  in  No-  K.->ii.,a reoccupied. 
\  ember.  For  some  time,  "  the  faithful  Hopu  "  had  labored  here  alone, 
cheered  by  the  growing  piety  of  his  aged  father,  and  by  other  indica- 
tions of  usefulness.  Kuakini  (Gov.  Adams)  was  now  completing  a 
house  of  worship,  60  feet  by  30,  within  the  inclosures  of  a  demolished 
temple,  where  human  victims  had  once  been  offered.  It  was  dedicated 
on  the  10th  of  December,  and  from  that  time  the  attendants  on  the  Sab- 
bath were  from  600  to  1000.  He  issued  a  proclamation,  forbidding 
several  of  the  grosser  vices,  and  enjoining  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath. 

At  Kaawaloa,  about  15  miles  from  Kailua,  the  aged  Kam^kau.atKaawa- 
Karaakau,  the  most  distinguished  poet  on  the  island,  was  '"''■ 
striving  to  lead  his  people  in  the  right  way.  Every  Sabbath,  for  some 
time,  he  had  assembled  his  people  in  a  lanai,  or  shed,  built  for  that 
purpose,  prayed  with  them,  and  exhorted  them  to  love  Jehovah.  Du- 
ring the  summer,  he  was  visited  by  Mr.  Bishop  and  Hopu.  The  peo- 
ple were  assembled.  Mr.  Bishop  spake  to  them  of  the  lost  condition  of 
men,  of  the  love  of  God  in  sending  his  Son  to  die  for  sinners,  and  of  the 
certainty  that  none  but  those  who  forsake  their  sins  and  believe  in  him 
can  have  eternal  life.  Here  the  old  chief  interrupted  the  speaker,  and 
with  tears  besought  his  people  to  listen,  for  on  their  attention  to  these 
truths  depended  their  salvation. 

At  Lahaina,  Keopuolani  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  o.a,h  ofKeop„oian. 
the  mission.  Heir  of  the  ancient  kings,  widow  of  Kamehameha  and 
mother  of  Liholiho,  she  was  the  highest  chief  on  the  islands.  The  joint 
letter  from  the  station  thus  describes  her  sickness  and  death,  which  oc- 
curred on  the  16th  of  September. 

"  For  a  considerable  time  before  she  came  to  Lahaina,  she  was  par- 
ticularly attentive  to  the  instructions  of  the  missionaries,  and  to  some  of 
the  outward  forms  of  the  Christian  religion.  Immediately  on  her  arri- 
val here,  she  took  a  very  decided  stand  against  immorahty ;  resisted  fre- 
quent attacks  made  upon  her  by  other  chiefs  ;  openly  reproved  vice  in  a 
manner  which  would  have  done  honor  to  an  old,  enlightened  Christian  ; 
always  listened  with  attention  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel ;  made  fre- 


136  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1823. 

quent  and  very  interesting  inquiries  respecting  the  future  state,  and  the 
way  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ ;  expressed  many  fears  lest  she 
should  not  learn  enough  of  the  new  way  to  reach  heaven ;  but,  every 
week,  gave  new  evidence  that  she  was  fast  preparing  for  it. 

"During  her  last  sickness,  we  were  without  an  interpreter,  and  of 
course  knew  but  little  of  her  views  and  feelings.  On  the  morning  of 
the  day  on  which  she  died,  Mr.  Ellis  arrived  from  Honolulu.  He  imme- 
diately found  that  she  had  spent  much  time  during  her  sickness,  convers- 
ing with  and  warning  those  about  her  to  prepare  for  death.  It  appears 
that  her  own  hopes  of  a  blessed  immortality  brightened  to  the  last. 

"  During  the  day  on  which  she  died,  she  slept  almost  constantly. 
"When  we  were  told  that  she  had  made  a  particular  request  to  be  bap- 
tized, or,  in  her  own  words, '  to  have  water  sprinkled  upon  her  in  the 
name  of  God,'  we  hesitated,  in  consequence  of  her  lying  in  so  stupid  a 
state.  We  said  to  the  king,  'Perhaps  it  is  not  best.'  He  replied, '  Why 
is  it  not  best  1  What  is  the  harm  ?  My  mother  gave  herself  to  Jesus 
Christ  before  she  was  sick.  Why  may  she  not  have  water  sprinkled  on 
her  in  the  name  of  God,  like  the  people  of  Christ  1  Shall  she  be  denied 
because  she  must  soon  die  V  This  he  said  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  and 
with  an  emphasis  which  reached  our  hearts. 

"  Although  it  was  too  late  for  her  to  receive  any  personal  benefit 
from  the  ordinance,  yet  we  saw  that  those  around  her  felt  so  deeply  on 
the  subject,  that  we  concluded  at  once  to  comply  with  the  request.  Mr. 
Ellis  addressed  the  people  on  the  subject  of  baptism,  and  then  by  admin- 
istering the  ordinance,  introduced  this  highest  chief  into  the  church  of 
Christ  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  It  was  an  overwhelming  sight,  not  only 
to  us,  but  to  the  natives  who  witnessed  it.  They  listened  with  awful  solem- 
nity, when  they  saw  what  was  done.  The  king  said, '  Surely  she  is  no 
more  ours :  she  formerly  gave  herself  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  now  we  be- 
lieve she  is  his,  and  will  go  and  dwell  with  him.'  After  her  baptism 
she  gave  no  signs  of  intelligence.  She  breathed  for  about  an  hour,  and 
then  her  spirit  took  its  flight.  The  thousands  about  the  house  imme- 
diately commenced  their  frightful  wailings." 

At  previous  reports  of  her  death,  the  natives  had  seized  what  arti- 
cles they  could  convey,  and  fled  to  the  mountains ;  and  now,  foreign 
residents  had  prepared  to  take  refuge  on  board  the  shipping  in  the  har- 
bor, and  invited  the  missionaries  to  do  the  same ;  expecting,  according 
to  the  former  custom  on  such  occasions,  a  scene  of  universal  licentious- 
ness and  pillage.  But  Keopuolani  had  enjoined  that  no  heathen  cus- 
toms should  follow  her  death  or  attend  her  funeral;  and,  sanctioned  by 
the  living  chiefs,  her  injunction  was  obeyed.  Her  body,  instead  of  being 
privately  dissected  in  the  night,  the  bones  preserved  to  be  worshipped 
and  the  remainder  thrown  into  the  sea,  was  deposited,  with  Christian 
rites,  in  a  house  of  stone,  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and  defended  by  a 
strong  stone  wall  from  intrusion. 

The  king,  M.d  for.ign  Shc  had  bccu  deeply  affected  by  the  intemperance  of 
«s.dem..  j^gj,  g^j^^  ^YiQ  king,  and  often  strove,  but  in  vain,  to  reclaim 


1823.]  LIHOLIHO   SAILS   FOR   ENGLAND.  137 

him.  Her  dying  counsel,  enforced  by  the  scenes  of  her  sickness,  baptism, 
death  and  burial,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  his  mind.  For  a  fort- 
night, he  was  perfectly  sober,  and  seemed  fully  determined  on  reforma- 
tion. There  were  those  around,  who  dreaded  such  a  result.  Several 
dinner  parties  were  made,  for  the  purpose  of  alluring  him  to  his  former 
vice ;  but,  aware  of  the  design,  he  declined  attending.  At  length,  all  other 
devices  failing,  a  little  more  than  a  week  after  his  mother's  death,  he  was 
invited  on  board  a  ship,  to  view  some  beautiful  specimens  of  goods. 
Refreshments  were  offered,  but  he  refused  to  taste  the  liquors  presented. 
Finally,  a  bottle  of  cherry-brandy  was  produced,  such  as  he  had  never 
seen,  and  he  was  told  th?it  it  would  not  intoxicate.  He  tasted ;  tasted 
again ;  requested  a  bottle  to  carry  on  shore ;  and  at  sunset  was  found  by  Mr. 
Ellis  and  the  other  brethren,  in  the  front  of  his  tent,  the  principal  figure 
in  a  drunken  revel. — In  a  tone  of  self-condemnation  he  exclaimed, 
"  Why  do  you  come  here  ? — you  are  good  men  ;  you  are  my  friends ; 
but  this  is  the  place  of  the  devil ;  and  it  is  not  well  for  you  to  stay  here." 
They  went  on  their  way,  to  attend  evening  prayer  with  the  assembled 
chiefs  at  the  dwelling  of  Kaahumanu ;  and  as  they  went,  they  sawKuakini 
seated  in  the  open  air  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd.  Before  him,  one  of  the 
foreigners  was  on  his  knees,  offering  a  mock  prayer,  in  imitation  of  a 
missionary ;  while  another  was  writing  on  a  slate  for  his  perusal,  some 
of  the  vilest  words  in  the  English  language;  words  so  vile,  that  the 
wretch  himself  was  ashamed  of  them,  and  attempted  to  efface  them  be- 
fore they  could  be  recognized. — Such  are  those,  from  v^'hom  voyagers  in 
the  Pacific  learn  that  the  missionaries  are  bad  and  ambitious  men,  doing 
mischief  in  the  islands. 

The  progress  of  truth  and  good  morals  could  not  be  nonpurs  m:,rri,->ge. 
wholly  arrested.  Hoapili,  the  husband  of  Keopuolani,  instead  of  taking 
another  wife  as  soon  as  her  remains  were  out  of  sight,  to  be  changed  at 
will  if  she  should  not  please  him,  waited  more  than  a  month,  and  then 
selected  Kalakua,  a  widow  of  Kameharaeha.  They  presented  to  Mr.  Rich- 
ards a  joint  request,  that  on  the  Sabbath  they  might  go  to  the  house 
of  prayer,  and  like  the  people  of  Jesus  Christ,  be  joined  together  as  man 
and  wife.  A  marriage  covenant  on  Christian  principles  was  drawn  up, 
and  received  their  approbation  ;  and  on  the  Sabbath,  October  19,  they 
were  united  in  Christian  marriage.  The  bride,  soon  after,  objected  to 
the  use  of  her  former  name,  and  in  imitation  of  the  Tahitians  chose  to 
be  called  Hoapili-wahine. 

In  November,  the  king  sailed  for  England,  in  the  The  kinc-.  vm  to 
L'Aigle,  Capt.  Starbuck,  intending  also  to  visit  the  United  ^■"'^^"'^■ 
States.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  queen  Kamamalu,  by  Boki,  and 
several  native  attendants  of  inferior  rank.  It  was  thought  desirable,  on 
many  accounts,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ellis  should  accompany  him  ;  but  Capt. 
Stariouck  refused  to  take  so  many  on  board,  and  the  king,  after  thinking 
awhile  of  going  in  one  of  his  own  vessels  rather  than  leave  him,  at  last 
yielded  to  the  necessity  of  the  case.  He  left  the  government  in  the 
hands  of  Kalairaoku,  and  Kaahumanu,  and  named  his  little  brother 

18 


138  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1823. 

Keauikiouli  as  his  successor,  if  he  should  never  return.  He  arrived  in 
London  in  May.  Here  he  received  some  attention  from  statesmen  and 
others,  was  taken  to  the  theatre  and  pleasure-gardens,  and  amused  with 
various  exhibitions,  but  saw  little  or  nothing  of  religious  men.  In  a  few 
weeks,  he  and  his  queen  were  taken  with  the  measles.  The  disease  was 
probably  aggravated  in  both  cases,  by  an  unaccustomed  climate  and  mode 
of  life,  and  in  that  of  the  king,  by  his  former  intemperance.  The  queen 
died  early  in  July,  and  the  king  a  few  days  afterwards.  The  British  gov- 
ernment sent  a  frigate  under  command  of  Lord  Byron  to  convey  their 
bodies  home. 

By  the  unanimous  advice  of  the  mission  and  the  English  Deputation, 
Mr.  Daniel  Chamberlain,  who  went  out  with  the  first  misson  to  the 
Islands  as  a  farmer,  returned  this  year.  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  highly 
esteemed  by  the  brethren ;  but  the  health  and  education  of  his  family 
rendered  his  return  desirable,  and  it  was  found  that  a  farmer  could  not 
be  advantageously  employed  in  connection  with  the  mission. 
Mission  to  Spanish  Mcssrs.  Johu  C.  Bpigliam  and  Theophilus  Parvin  sailed 
America.  ^^^^^  Bostou  for  South  Amcrlca  on  the  25th  of  July,  and 

arrived  at  Buenos  Ayres,  October  24.  The  remainder  of  the  year  was 
spent  in  perfecting  their  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language. — As  the 
history  of  this  mission  is  brief,  it  may  as  well  be  finished  here. 

In  February,  Mr.  Parvin  issued  proposals  for  a  school,  to  be  taught 
by  himself.  It  was  opened  in  March,  and  soon  contained  20  sons  of  res- 
pectable citizens.  A  Sabbath  School  for  Protestant  children  was  estab- 
lished, which  contained  about  the  same  number  of  scholars.  Worship 
was  attended  on  the  Sabbath  and  evening  meetings  were  held  during 
the  week,  at  the  house  of  a  pious  English  gentleman.  A  Bible  Society, 
previously  formed,  was  revived,  and  a  considerable  impulse  was  given  to 
the  work  of  distribution. 

Mr.  Parvin  continued  at  Buenos  Ayres,  engaged  in  teaching,  preach- 
ing the  gospel,  first  in  a  private  room  and  then  in  a  school  room,  some- 
times holding  "  Bethel  meetings"  on  board  ships  in  the  harbor,  and  labor- 
ing in  various  ways  to  do  good,  till  September,  1825,  when  he  returned 
to  the  United  States,  to  make  arrangements  for  more  extensive  opera- 
tions. The  income  of  his  school  was  sufficient  for  his  support.  He 
wished  to  procure  a  press,  and  engage  in  publishing  a  periodical  and 
other  works,  which  could  best  be  done  on  individual  responsibility.  He 
was  therefore,  at  his  own  request,  honorably  discharged  from  the  service 
of  the  Board  ;  and  having  received  ordination  in  Philadelphia,  returned 
early  in  1826  to  Buenos  Ayres,  with  a  press,  printer  and  female  teacher. 

Mr.  Brigham  left  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  20th  of  October,  1824 ;  and 
pursuing  the  original  design  of  the  mission,  crossed  the  continent  to  the 
Pacific.  He  examined  into  the  state  of  the  Araucanian  Indians,  visited 
Chili  and  Peru,  and  returning  through  Mexico  to  the  United  States, 
arrived  in  New  York  in  May,  1826.  During  his  travels  he  held  many 
interesting  conversations  on  appropriate  subjects  with  clergymen,  states- 
men, soldiers  and  common  people,  sold  and  gave  way  many  copies  of  the 


1824.]  ANNUAL   MEETING.      AUXILIARY  SOCIETIES.  139 

Scriptures,  and  collected  much  valuable  information.  After  his  return, 
he  was  invited  to  become  Secretary  for  Domestic  Correspondence  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  With  the  approbation  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, he  accepted  the  office,  and  was  released  from  the  service  of  the 
Board. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


1824. — Meeting  at  Hartford. — Organization  for  raising  funds. — Foreign  Mis- 
sion School. — Difficuhies  in  managing  it. — Subscriptions  at  Bombay  in  aid 
of  the  schools. — Gunga's  School  for  girls. — The  Mission  Chapel  Congrega- 
tion.— Revivals  al  Ceylon.— School  at  Beyroot. — Armenian  Bishops. — Hos- 
tility of  the  Latins. — Missionaries  arrested  at  Jerusalem. — Firman  against 
circulating  the  Scriptures. — Cherokee  mission  remodeled. — Brainerd  reduc- 
ed.— Conversions  at  the  smaller  stations. — Church  join  the  Union  Presby- 
tery.— The  first  Choctaw  converts  admitted  to  the  Church. — Prosperity  on 
the  Arkansas — Sandwich  Islands. — New  stations. — Death  of  Kiamoku  and 
Tamoree. — George  Tamoree's  rebellion. — Order  of  the  regents,  in  favor  of 
learning  and  religion. — The  native  school  system  commenced. — ^Morals 
among  seamen. — Progress  of  piety. — Praying  men. — Mr.  Ellis  goes  to  En- 
gland. 

The  fifteenth  aunual  meeting  was  held  at  Hartford,  on  the  15th,  16th 
and  l7th  of  September.  The  receipts  into  the  Treasury  during  the  finan- 
cial year  had  been  $47,483,58;  payments,  $54,157,05.  The  amount 
of  the  permanent  fund  was  $35,103,87.  The  debt  of  the  Board,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  year,  was  nearly  $8,000,  During  the  year  it  had 
been  reduced  to  less  than  $100;  but  unavoidable  demands  had  again 
raised  it  to  more  than  $14,000.  The  amount  received  in  donations 
during  the  year  was  about  $44,000 ;  of  which  at  least  $40,000  flowed 
into  the  treasury  without  any  reference  to  the  labors  of  agents  performed 
within  the  year. 

A  resolution  was  adopted,  approving  the  plan  of  the  Auxnbry  societies. 
Prudential  Coramitte  for  enlisting  all  people  of  both  sexes  in  associations 
auxiliary  to  the  Board.  According  to  this  plan,  societies  were  to  be 
formed  in  every  county,  or  other  district  of  sufficient  extent,  directly  aux- 
iliary to  the  Board ;  and  a  male  and  female  association  in  each  town, 
parish,  or  smaller  district  of  convenient  extent,  auxiliary  to  the  county  so- 
ciety within  whose  limits  it  was  located.  Each  association  was  to  ap- 
point a  suflBcient  number  of  collectors,  who  should  annually  lay  the  claims 
of  the  Board  before  all  persons  within  their  respective  districts,  and  solicit 
donations.  Every  association  was  to  be  represented  in  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  county  society,  at  which  a  deputation  from  the  Board  was  ex- 
pected to  attend.  Thus  a  complete  chain  of  communication  would  be 
formed,  from  the  Board  to  every  individual  donor ;  and  so  far  as  this  plan 
should  be  successfully  executed,  the  expensive  labors  of  travelling  agents 


140  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMEtllCAN  BOARD.  [1824. 

would  be  rendered  needless.  A  resolution  was  also  passed,  earnestly 
requesting  the  clergy  to  act  as  agents  in  their  respc(;tive  parishes. 

Foreign   Mission  Thc  Forcign  Mission  School  contained  30  pupils,  from 

^'''""'''  14  different   countries,   more  than  half  of  whom  were 

thought  to  give  evidence  of  piety.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Daggett,  after  six 
years'  service,  resigned  the  office  of  Principal,  on  account  of  his  declin- 
ing health,  on  the  1st  of  January  ;  but  consented  to  aid  in  the  instruction 
and  government  of  the  school  till  after  the  annual  meeting,  when  his 
place  was  supplied  by  the  Rev.  Amos  Bassett,  D.  D. 

There  appears  to  have  been  some  danger  that  this  School  would 
cease  to  be  a  mere  instrument  of  good  in  the  hands  of  the  Board,  and 
obtain  a  separate  existence  of  its  own,  having  its  own  interests,  purposes 
and  resources;  and  yet  sustaining  such  an  inseparable  connection  with 
the  Board,  that  each  would  be  perpetually  embarrassed  by  the  other's 
movements.  This  danger  arose,  not  from  the  character  of  the  excellent 
men  who  composed  the  Board  of  Agency  for  the  School,  but  from  the 
nature  of  the  case.  It  was  their  duty  to  promote  the  interests  of  the 
School.  Many,  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  might  be  willing  to  give  to  the 
School,  who  would  not  give  to  the  Board.  An  undue  proportion  of 
funds  might  easily  be  turned  in  that  direction ;  and  thus,  without  any 
such  design,  a  great  amount  of  property  and  influence  might  be  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  Agency,  for  the  use  of  which  the  Board  would  be  held 
responsible  by  the  public,  without  the  power  to  control  it.  How  distinctly 
any  danger  of  this  kind  was  seen  at  this  annual  meeting,  it  is  impossible 
to  ascertain  ;  but  certain  proceedings  were  had,  adapted,  if  not  intended, 
to  guard  against  it.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  report  on  the  respec- 
tive duties  of  the  Prudential  Committee  and  Board  of  Agency ;  and  on 
their  recommendation,  resolutions  were  adopted,  assigning  to  the  agents 
or  their  committee,  the  internal  management  of  the  institution  on  prin- 
ciples laid  down  by  the  Board,  and  requiring  reports  to  the  Prudential 
Committee,  at  stated,  times,  of  the  progress  and  character  of  each  pupil, 
and  of  the  pecuniary  concerns  of  the  School.  Another  resolution  declared 
it  inexpedient  to  solicit  funds,  except  in  Litchfield  county,  for  the 
erection  of  additional  buildings,  and  that  nothing  could  be  spared  for 
that  from  the  general  funds  of  the  Board.  The  Prudential  Committee, 
in  their  correspondence  on  this  subject,  both  before  and  after  this  meet- 
ing, insisted  that  funds  should  be  solicited  only  by  private  applications 
to  individuals.  The  annual  report,  adopted  at  this  meeting,  points  out 
other  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  nature  of  the  institution : 

"  As  the  school  increases  in  age,  and  the  more  advanced  students  are  com- 
pleting the  term  originally  fixed  as  the  period  of  their  education,  it  becomes 
more  and  more  a  question  of  delicacy  and  difficulty  to  decide  whither  they  shall 
be  sent,  and  how  they  shall  be  employed.  In  regard  to  some  individuals,  the 
case  may  be  clear.  They  should  be  sent  to  their  native  land,  and  there  be 
associated  with  missionaries,  in  such  departmentsof  the  work  as  they  are  able 
to  manage.  But  many  ofthese  pupils  are  not  capable  of  rendering  any  essen- 
tial service.  It  cannot  be  expected  that  all  should  possess  talents,  industry, 
self-denial,  and  other  qualifications,  adequate  to  the  discharge  of  arduous  and 


1824.]  BOMBAY   MISSION   STRENGTHENED.  141 

complicated  duties,  often  in  very  embarrassing  circumstances.  Though  some 
of"  the  pupils  may  render  valuable  aid  lo  missionaries,  experience  seems  to  in- 
dicate, that  youths  educated  upon  missionary  ground,  are  more  apt  to  be  fitted 
for  the  various  circumstances  of  a  residence  among  their  countrymen,  than 
those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  a  different  manner  of  life.  This  remark 
does  not  apply  to  the  commencement  of  a  mission  ;  but  to  subsequent  periods, 
after  the  process  of  education  shall  have  been  carried  on  lor  some  lime.  The 
Board  need  much  wisdom,  therefore,  in  regard  to  the  measures  to  be  adopted 
respecting  this  institution.  The  selection  of  suitable  beneficiaries,  out  oi' the 
very  limired  range  which  falls  under  our  observation  ; — the  prosecution  of  the 
best  plan  lor  their  intellectual  and  moral  improvement;  and  the  placing  them 
in  such  a  connection  with  the  missions,  as  shall  be  satisfactory  to  them,  and  shall 
do  justice  to  the  Board,  and  to  the  Christian  public; — all  this  is  a  matter  of  no 
inconsiderable  difficuhy  and  perplexity.  To  expect,  indeed,  that  every  youth 
educated  at  this  seminary  should  equal  all  the  hopes  which  may  have  been  en- 
tertained concerning  him,  would  be  judging  without  reference  to  the  common 
experience  of  mankind.  There  should  be  a  reasonable  prospect,  however,  not 
only  that  the  youths  educated  will  receive  benefit  themselves,  and  be  in  some 
degree  useful  to  others ;  but  that,  taking  all  things  into  consideration,  the  money 
expended  in  this  way  will  prove  to  have  been  wisely  expended.  That  there 
has  been,  and  still  is,  such  a  prospect,  the  confidence  of  the  Christian  public  in 
this  school  may  be  considered  as  furnishing  ample  proof." 

The  Bombay  Mission  was  strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  somh:,y  operaiioni 
Mr.  Frost,  with  his  wife  and  Mrs.  Graves,  on  the  28th  of  "'"""■"• 
June.     On  the  night  of  the  10th  of  December,  Mr.  Nichols  was  removed 
by  death. 

About  the  close  of  the  previous  year,  the  mission  had  published  a  re- 
port of  the  free  schools  under  its  care,  and  appealed  to  the  European  in- 
habitants for  aid  in  sustaining  them.  The  appeal  was  well  received, 
especially  by  the  Governor,  and  others  high  in  office  and  influence.  It 
was  resolved  to  increase  the  number  of  schools  to  34.  Afterwards,  a 
letter  from  the  Treasurer  announced  provision  for  5  schools,  and  the  num- 
ber was  increased  to  39.  It  was  found  advisable  to  require  these  schools 
to  meet  on  the  Sabbath,  as  well  as  on  other  days,  and  to  spend  the  whole 
time  on  moral  and  religious  subjects.  This  change  seemed  to  be  de- 
manded by  all  the  reasons  which  justify  Sabbath  Schools  anywhere ; 
and  besides,  as  the  parents  were  heathens,  there  was  no  other  way  to 
make  the  children  pay  any  regard  to  the  Sabbath.  In  March,  a  school 
for  girls  was  put  in  operation  under  the  tuition  of  Gunga,  a  competent 
female  native.  It  was  supposed  to  be  the  first  of  the  kind  established  in 
Western  India.  As  soon  as  its  establishment  was  known,  two  pious 
ladies  volunteered  to  defray  the  expense.  About  the  middle  of  May, 
the  cholera  again  swept  over  the  land,  and  Gunga  was  one  of  its  victims. 
No  successor  could  be  found. 

In  October,  Manuel  Antonio,  a  superintendent  of  schools  in  the  em- 
ployment of  the  mission,  requested  admission  to  the  church.  Hope  was 
entertained  of  his  piety,  but  it  was  thought  better  to  wait  till  that  hope 
should  be  strengthened  by  clearer  evidence.  He,  therefore,  at  present 
only  subscribed  the  rules  of  the  "  Mission  Chapel  Congregation." 
Those  rules  had  lately  been  drawn  up,  and  subscribed  by  several  attend- 


142  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1824. 

ants  on  public  worship.  They  bound  the  subscribers  to  attend  public 
worship  at  the  mission  chapel,  and  to  regard  the  missionaries  as  their 
pastors;  and,  in  return,  the  missionaries  promised  to  watch  over  them 
and  minister  to  them  in  affliction,  as  unconverted  members  of  congrega- 
tions expect  from  their  pastors  in  Christian  lands. 
Ceylon.  Revival.  Thc  Ceylon  Mission  cnjojed  its  usual  degree  of  pros- 

perity in  all  its  operations.  The  50  free  schools  had  on  their  lists  more 
than  2,000  pupils,  and  an  average  daily  attendance  of  1,600.  The  board- 
ing schools  contained  about  200  young  persons,  who  were  receiving  a 
more  perfect  education.  Of  the  whole  number,  more  than  250  were 
females. 

But  spiritual  blessings  descended  in  rich  abundance,  such  as  the 
history  of  missions  for  a  long  time  had  not  recorded.  Of  the  commence- 
ment of  this  revival,  the  Missionary  Herald  gives  the  following  account, 
derived  from  a  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Winslow  to  a  friend  in  Boston  : 

"  Nothing  remarkable  was  noticed,  either  among  the  youth  of  the 
schools,  or  among  the  missionaries,  until  the  middle  of  January,  1824 ; 
excepting  that,  during  the  season  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer,  in 
the  latter  part  of  December,  there  was  an  unusual  degree  of  feeling 
among  those  who  were  present  at  the  religious  solemnities  of  the  occa- 
sion. 

"  On  the  18th  of  January,  near  the  close  of  the  morning  service  at 
Tillipally,  Mr.  Woodward  observed  some  of  the  boys  to  be  peculiarly 
affected  by  what  was  said.  Thus  encouraged,  he  appointed  another 
meeting  for  them  in  the  afternoon,  and  another  in  the  evening.  The 
next  day,  being  unwell,  he  sent  for  Mr.  Winslow,  who  repaired  to 
Tillipally  in  the  afternoon,  and  found  seven  or  eight  of  the  boys  mani- 
festing much  anxious  concern  for  their  spiritual  welfare,  and  others  more 
or  less  serious.  Most  of  them  belonged  to  the  boarding  school.  They 
were  assembled  together  for  religious  services,  when  he  arrived,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  seemed  evidently  present. 

"  The  disposition  to  serious  and  anxious  inquiry  continued  to  increase, 
till  all  the  members  of  the  school,  (about  40  in  number,)  the  domestics 
of  the  family,  and  two  or  three  schoolmasters,  were  among  the  in- 
quirers. The  result  was,  that  most  of  the  older  boys,  and  two  girls,  o-ave 
pleasing  evidence  of  a  change  of  character. 

"  Mr.  Winslow  returned  to  Oodooville,  impressed  with  the  impor- 
tance of  lookino;  for  a  similar  blessino-  on  his  own  station.  And  a  simi- 
lar  blessmg  was  granted.  In  dispensing  the  word  of  life,  on  the  next 
Sabbath,  he  was  himself  favored  with  a  remarkable  tenderness  and  fer- 
vency of  spirit.  Some  were  much  affected,  and  tears  began  to  flow 
from  those  unused  to  weep.  The  impression  continued  through  the 
other  meetings  of  the  day,  and  at  evening,  a  number  of  girls  in  the  fe- 
male central  school  here,  were  found  convinced  of  their  sinfulness  and 
need  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ.  Meetings  for  inquiry  into  the  state 
of  individuals  followed,  and  the  Lord  graciously  caused  the  work  to  pro- 
ceed, untill  no  one  in  the  school  remained  wholly  unaffected. 


1824.]  REVIVAL  AT  CEYLON.  143 

"The  monthly  prayer-meeting  was  held  at  Batticotta  on  the  2d  of 
February,  at  which  most  of  the  missionaries  of  Jaffna  district,  together 
with  J.  N.  Mooyart,  Esq.,  and  some  others,  were  present.  The  forenoon 
was  occupied  in  relating,  as  usual,  whatever  of  particular  interest  had 
occurred  at  our  different  stations;  but  a  new  spirit  prevailed:  and  we  had 
scarcely  assembled  in  the  afternoon,  and  sung  a  hymn,  when  the  Holy 
Spirit  seemed  to  fill  all  the  place  where  we  were  together.  The  brother 
who  was  leading  in  prayer,  was  so  much  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of 
the  divine  presence,  that  he  could  scarcely  proceed.  The  same  influ- 
ence was  felt  by  all ;  and  the  afternoon  was  spent  in  prayer,  interrupt- 
ed only  by  a  few  passages  read  from  the  Scriptures,  and  by  singing  and 
weeping.  The  next  morning  also  was  set  apart  for  special  prayer,  and 
was  a  precious  season. 

"  The  next  Sabbath  was  a  new  day  at  Manepy.  The  Holy  Supper 
was  celebrated,  and  an  adult  man  baptized  and  admitted  to  the  church. 
The  serious  lads  from  Tillipally,  and  the  girls  from  Oodooville,  vi'ere 
there.  During  the  sermon  and  ordinances,  the  Spirit  of  God  was  evi- 
dently present ;  and  when,  in  the  afternoon,  the  children  and  youth  of 
the  boarding  schools  of  that  and  the  other  stations  came  together,  an 
affecting  scene  was  exhibited.  Many  were  in  tears.  More  than  30 
expressed  a  desire  to  forsake  all  for  Christ.  The  Lord  carried  on  the 
"work,  till,  in  a  school  consisting  of  about  45  boys,  many  of  whom  were 
young,  nearly  hdAf  professed  themselves  to  be  the  Lord's. 

"  But  a  more  remarkable  visitation  was  yet  to  be  experienced.  This 
was  at  Panditeripo.  There  had  been  some  previous  attention  at  that 
station.  But,  on  the  12th  of  February,  while  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scudder 
were  absent,  and  after  the  boys  had  gone  to  their  room,  and  were  about 
to  lie  down  to  sleep,  VVhelpley,  (a  native  member  of  the  church,)  was 
induced  to  exhort  them  most  earnestly  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 
They  were  roused,  and  could  not  sleep.  By  little  companies  they  went 
out  into  the  garden  to  pray,  and  the  voice  of  supplication  was  soon 
heard  in  every  quarter.  It  waxed  louder  and  louder,  each  one,  or  each 
company  praying  and  weeping  as  though  all  were  alone.  More  than 
30  were  thus  engaged  in  a  small  garden.  The  cry  was,  '  What  shall  I 
do  to  be  saved  V  and, '  Lord,  send  thy  Spirit.'  In  about  an  hour,  Dr> 
Scudder  returned,  and  after  waiting  a  while,  rang  the  bell  for  the  boys 
to  come  in.  They  came,  and  with  weeping,  proposed  to  him  the  in- 
quiry, '  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  V  The  next  day,  they  seemed 
to  be  earnestly  seeking  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  More  than  20, 
at  that  place,  indulged  the  hope  that  they  had  obtained  the  forgiveness 
of  their  sins. 

"  There  had  yet  been,  however,  no  uncommon  attention  in  the  cen- 
tral school  at  Batticotta.  Prayer  was  made,  and  had  been  made  almost 
without  ceasing,  for  that  school ;  and,  in  two  or  three  instances,  some 
little  meetings,  held  for  this  purpose,  experienced  very  sensible  tokens 
of  the  divine  influence,  and  continued  in  supplication  through  a  great 
part  of  the  night. 


144  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1824. 

"  At  length  several  of  the  serious  lads  at  Tillipally,  where  the  revi- 
val of  religion  commenced,  visited  this  seminary,  and  conversed  with 
the  youths  there  with  good  effect.  The  Sabbath  following,  a  serious 
influence  on  the  minds  of  the  scholars  was  manifest.  The  next  Tues- 
day, most  of  the  missionaries  were  there,  with  their  wives.  A  meeting, 
held  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  was  deeply  interesting.  About  ten  of 
the  youths  expressed  a  determination  to  forsake  all  for  Christ;  and 
scarcely  one  in  the  school  was  altogether  unmoved." 

"  Since  then,"  Mr.  Winslow  adds,  "  an  awakening  has  commenced 
in  Jaffna,  where  we  have  all  been, and  attended  meetings  more  or  less; 
and  the  prospects  there  are  still  very  encouraging.  Last  week  we  had 
a  most  reviving  season  of  prayer  there,  in  the  house  of  J.  N.  Mooyart, 
Esq.,  who  had  called  together  all  his  Christian  friends  to  take  leave  of 
them ;  he  being  about  to  remove  to  the  southern  part  of  the  island." 

Of  the  subjects  of  this  revival,  15  at  Tillipally,  12  at  Oodooville,  12 
at  Manepy,  20  at  Panditeripo,  and  10  at  Batticotta, — in  all  69,  were 
thought,  in  March,  to  give  some  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart.  The 
special  interest  continued  through  the  summer.  At  times,  nearly  all 
the  members  of  the  boarding  schools,  and  many  others,  avowed  more  or 
less  anxiety  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls ;  but  it  was  almost  wholly 
confined  to  those  whose  long  acquaintance  with  the  mission,  either  as 
pupils,  as  teachers  or  servants  in  their  employment,  or  as  neighbors, 
had  given  them  some  knowledge  of  Christian  truth. 

Only  eight  members  were  added  to  the  church  during  the  year;  but 
in  December,  37  members  of  the  boarding  schools  were  candidates  for 
admission.  But  this  was  not  all.  The  year  closed,  as  it  began,  with 
a  revival.     On  the  10th  of  the  next  January,  Mr.  Winslow  wrote : 

"  The  last  two  months  have  been  a  time  of  silent,  but  we  trust  effec- 
tual, operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  many  hearts.  Preceding  and 
accompanying  it,  was  an  uncommon  spirit  of  prayer, — fervent,  weeping 
prayer.  All  the  stations  witnessed  new  zeal  and  activity  among  the 
members ;  a  revival  of  old  impressions  in  those  who  had  ben  awakened 
before  and  had  gone  back ;  and  new  cases  of  conviction  among  careless 
sinners,  both  in  our  schools,  and  among  our  schoolmasters,  and  others 
connected  with  us.  The  case  of  some  young  men  has  been  particularly 
interesting.  There  were  several  connected  with  the  mission  in  various 
ways,  who  had  long  been  instructed,  but  remained  hardened.  One  of 
them,  an  assistant  in  the  central  school,  named  T.  Dwight,  had,  for  some 
time,  been  more  or  less  anxious  about  his  soul ;  but  unable  to  give  up 
all  for  Christ.  After  the  last  awakening  commenced,  he  was  more 
deeply  affected;  and,  at  length,  against  much  opposition,  came  out  on 
the  Lord's  side.  His  taking  a  decided  stand,  had  some  effect  upon 
others.  These  were  made  the  special  subjects  of  prayer  and  effort,  and 
the  Lord  appeared  to  bless  the  means  used.  Two  who  are  connected 
with  the  station  of  Tillipally,  and  three  at  this  station,  were  more  espe- 
cially awakened  and  brought  to  deep  concern,  and  have  subsequently 
been  made  partakers  of  a  Christian  hope.     They  are  all  from  the  most 


1824.]  PALESTINE   MISSION.  145 

respectable  families,  and  stand  very  high  among  the  people.  If  they 
remain  steadl'ast,  a  heavy  blow  will  be  given  to  heathenism.  Many  of 
the  schoolmasters,  also,  at  the  different  stations,  are  more  or  less  seri- 
ous, and  eight  or  ten  may  be  said  to  appear  well.  Of  the  lads  in  the 
central  school,  and  the  children  in  the  boarding  schools,  several  have 
of  late  hopefully  passed  from  death  unto  life." 

At  Malta,  more  than  20  different  tracts  were  printed  p.viestine  Mission. 
in  Modern  Greek  and  Italian.  The  Modern  Greek  spelling  book  was 
in  great  demand,  and  a  second  edition  was  issued.  The  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  enriched  with  notes  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilson,  was  printed  in 
Modern  Greek  for  the  London  Missionary  Society.  Many  of  those 
works  were  distributed  in  Greece,  and  in  other  countries  on  the  Medi- 
terranean. Dr.  Naudi,  the  friend  of  the  mission,  openly  renounced  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith.  He  was  immediately  persecuted  by  the  priests, 
lost  his  medical  practice,  and  was  abandoned  by  most  of  his  numerous  ac- 
quaintances. Anathemas  against  the  tracts  of  the  mission  were  poured 
forth  abundantly. 

Beirut  was  the  station  of  Messrs.  Goodell  and  Bird.  The  study  of 
languages  was  their  principal,  but  not  their  only  employment.  As  early 
as  April,  a  class  of  six  children  was  formed,  taught  daily  by  the  wives 
oi  the  missionaries.  In  July,  Tannus,  an  Arab,  was  engaged  as  teach- 
er, and,  in  September,  the  scholars  had  increased  to  more  than  40,  and 
by  the  end  of  the  year,  to  50  or  60. 

In  June,  Mr.  Goodell  went  to  reside  a  few  weeks  in  Si-  Mr.  Go„,,ciinisijon. 
don,  where  he  pursued  the  study  of  the  Armeno-Turkish  language,— that 
is,  the  Turkish  language,  in  the  Armenian  alphabet, — which  is  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Armenians.  His  instructer  was  Jacob  Aga,  an  Arme- 
nian Archbishop,  who  acted  as  British  agent  at  Sidon.  He  had  given 
great  offence,  by  daring  to  marry.  To  defend  his  marriage,  he  was 
obliged  to  study  the  New  Testament.  As  the  light  of  truth  gradually 
entered  his  mind,  he  saw  and  testified  against  the  enormous  wickedness 
that  prevailed  around  him,  and  especially  among  the  clergy.  Here,  too, 
Mr.  Goodell  became  acquainted  with  the  Armenian  Bishop  Dionysius, 
whom  he  surnamed  Carabet,  or  the  forerunner.  He  was  a  native  of 
Constantinople,  and  had  lived  36  years  in  the  convent  at  Jerusalem. 
In  October,  Mr,  Goodell  engaged  him  to  reside  in  his  family  as  a  teach- 
er. His  views  were  much  like  those  of  Jacob  Aga,  and,  hke  him,  he 
had  dared  to  marry.  Though  still  in  darkness  on  many  important 
points,  and  giving  no  satisfactory  evidence  of  piety,  he  was  a  valuable 
assistant  to  Mr.  Goodell,  not  only  in  his  studies,  but  in  his  religious 
conversations  with  the  people,  and  as  a  translator. 

During  the  year  the  mission  was  visited  by  Mr.  Lewis  and  Dr.  Dal- 
ton,  of  the  London  Jews'  Society,  and  Mr.  Cook,  of  the  Wesleyan 
Missionary  Society.  Dr.  Dalton's  medical  services  were  of  great  va- 
lue, and  highly  appreciated.  Except  when  supplied  by  some  of  these 
gentlemen,  Messrs.  Goodell  and  Bird  maintained  public  worship  in 
Englishji  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Abbott,  the  British  Consul,  through  the  year. 

19 


146  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1824. 

Messrs.  Fisk  and  King  were  stationed  at  Jerusalem. 
Till  the  latter  part  of  April,  however,  Mr.  King  was  at  Jaf- 
fa, and  Mr.  Bird  was  with  Mr.  Fisk  at  Jerusalem.  On  the  lOth  of  Feb- 
ruary, the  head  of  the  police,  attended  by  eight  or  ten  soldiers,  and 
the  Latin  Dragoman,  (interpreter,)  came  into  their  lodgings,  took  pos- 
session of  some  of  their  papers  and  of  their  keys,  sealed  up  their  doors, 
and  carried  them  before  the  Judge.  Here  they  showed  their  firman ; 
but  the  Judge  told  them,  "  This  is  merely  for  travelling,  and  gives  you 
no  permission  to  sell  books."  Holding  up  a  copy  of  Genesis,  he  said, 
"These  books  are  neither  Mussulman,  Jewish,  nor  Christian,  and  no- 
body will  receive  or  read  them."  He  afterwards  remarked, "  The  Latins 
say  that  these  are  not  Christian  books."  They  were  sent  to  the  Go- 
vernor, with  the  assurance  that  they  should  be  kept  in  confinement  till 
orders  could  be  received  from  the  Pasha  at  Damascus.  They  appeared 
before  the  Governor,  in  the  very  place,  as  tradition  asserts,  where 
Pilate  dwelt,  and  where  our  Lord  was  condemned.  The  Governor  re- 
peated the  assertion  of  the  Judge, "  The  Latins  say,  that  these  are  neither 
Mussulman,  Jewish,  nor  Christian  books."  This  proves  that  their  arrest 
was  the  work  of  the  Latins,  as  the  Frank  Roman  Catholics  are  there 
called.  A  crier  was  sent  out,  forbidding  all  persons  to  receive  their 
books,  and  requiring  all  who  had  them  to  deliver  them  to  the  Judge. 
Learning  from  their  firman  that  they  were  under  English  protection,  the 
Governor  said  he  could  not  imprison  them,  but  they  should  be  lodged  in 
the  Latin  Convent.  Thither  they  were  conducted,  passing  along  the 
via  dolorosa,  by  which,  it  is  said,  our  Lord  was  taken  from  Pilate's  judg- 
ment-hall to  be  crucified.  The  Convent  refused  to  receive  them,  and 
they  were  lodged  in  the  Governor's  palace.  The  next  day  he  sent  for 
them  again,  professed  to  be  satisfied  with  their  statements,  threw  the 
blame  of  their  arrest  upon  the  Judge,  and  sent  them  to  lodge  with  his 
nephew,  where  they  were  treated  with  marked  respect.  The  next  day, 
after  some  vain  attempts  of  subordinate  officers  to  extort  presents  from 
them,  they  were  released.  In  a  few  days,  through  the  prompt  interfe- 
rence of  the  English  Consul  at  Jaffa,  to  whom  they  had  written,  all  their 
papers  were  restored.  The  Governor  and  the  Judge  quarrelled,  mutual- 
ly laying  the  arrest  to  each  other's  charge.  The  Judge  asserted  that  the 
prohibition  to  receive  books  extended  only  to  Mussulmans.  This  they 
knew  to  be  false ;  but  it  was  a  virtual  repeal  of  the  order,  and  the  sale 
of  Bibles  went  on  as  before. 

Firmans  ^..d  But  troublc  fi'om  "  the  Latins"  was  not  allowed  to  end 

Anathemas  Yieve.     It  had  been  reported  at  Rome,  that  Mr.  Wolff  had 

hired  the  Jesuit  College  at  Antura,  for  the  use  of  Protestant  missionaries. 
The  College  had  indeed  been  hired  for  that  purpose,  by  Mr.  Way. 
The  Cardinal  Somaglia,  Dean  of  the  College  of  the  Propaganda,  wrote 
without  delay  to  the  Patriarchal  Vicar  of  Mount  Lebanon,  the  Maron- 
ite  Patriarch,  and  Vicar  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  to  counteract  the  evil. 
He  declared  that  such  men  ought  not  to  have  an  asylum  on  Mount  Leb- 
anon ;  exhorted  the  Patriarch  to  make  it  his  first  care  to  drive  away 


1824.]  INDIAN  MISSIONS  REMODELED.  147 

this  spiritual  damage  ;  and  required  the  Vicar  of  Syria  to  lend  his  aid, 
*'  in  every  possible  manner,  to  render  ineffectual  the  aforesaid  impious 
undertaking."  These  letters  were  dated  January  31,  1824.  In  Feb- 
ruary, a  firman  was  addressed  by  the  Sultan  to  all  the  Pashas  in  West- 
ern Asia,  forbidding  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures,  commanding  those 
■who  had  received  copies  to  deliver  them  up,  and  that  copies  in  the  hands 
of  distributors  should  be  placed  in  sequestration  till  they  could  be  sent 
back  to  Europe.  As  Mussulmans  had  never  before  been  forbidden  to 
read  the  Scriptures ;  as  the  Greek  and  Armenian  clergy  had  uniformly 
approved  their  distribution  ;  as  the  Latins  alone  had  condemned  them 
as  books  "  not  Christian,"  and  opposed  their  distribution  ;  as  the  Propa- 
ganda had  sent  out  its  letters  just  before  the  firman  was  issued  ;  and  as 
it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  Sultan,  especially  during  his  struggle  with 
the  Greeks,  to  secure  the  friendship  of  his  Maronite  and  other  subjects 
of  the  Latin  faith  ;  no  one  can  doubt  what  influence  moved  him  to  this 
act.  It  was  not  rigidly  enforced,  and  but  partially  obeyed.  In  the  end, 
the  Turkish  authorities  at  Constantinople  and  elsewhere  thought  fit  to 
consider  it  as  having  been  intended  merely  to  be  a  salutary  caution  to 
Mussulmans. 

The  Maronite  and  Syrian  Patriarchs,  obedient  to  their  superiors,  is- 
sued their  anathemas  against  the  "  Bible-men,"  and  against  all  who 
should  receive  or  retain  their  books. 

Mr.  King  left  Jaffa,  and  passing  Mount  Lebanon,  in  June,  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Fisk  and  Mr.  Cook,  visited  Damascus,  Aleppo,  Antioch, 
and  other  cities  in  that  region.  From  this  journey,  after  acquiring  much 
information  and  dispensing  much  truth,  they  returned  to  BeirCit  about  the 
middle  of  November,  intending  to  spend  the  winter  in  Jerusalem. 

Great  changes  were  made  this  year,  in  the  arrangement  i„,,;^„  missions  re- 
of  the  Cherokee  mission.  Experience  had  conclusively  '""^^'^^'■'■ 
shown  the  inexpediency  of  large  establishments,  like  that  at  Brainerd. 
To  send  particular  directions  from  the  Missionary  Rooms,  prescribing 
what  every  one  was  to  do  every  day,  in  all  parts  of  the  complicated  busi- 
ness of  preaching  the  gospel,  teaching  the  school,  boarding  the  pupils, 
managing  the  farm,  the  mills  and  the  various  mechanics'  shops,  distrib- 
uting stores,  making  purchases,  collecting  and  paying  debts,  receiving 
visitors,  and  every  other  subject  on  which  a  question  could  arise,  was 
manifestly  impossible.  The  greater  number  of  questions,  many  of  which 
would  be  important,  must  be  decided  on  the  ground,  by  the  missionaries 
themselves.  Leaving  all  such  questions  to  be  decided  by  a  majority  of 
the  votes  of  the  mission,  led  to  endless  consultations,  to  unpleasant  dis- 
putes and  alienations  of  feeling ;  wasting  much  valuable  time,  and  often 
failing  to  decide  questions  at  all,  till  the  best  time  for  action  was  past. 
Giving  each  department  of  the  business  to  some  one  man,  to  be  managed 
according  to  his  own  judgment  without  consulting  his  brethren,  would 
destroy  the  harmonious  co-operation  of  the  several  parts  of  the  system. 
The  schoolmaster  and  the  farmer  must  have  an  understanding  concern- 
ing the  employment  of  the  boys.     The  itinerants  must  not  take  the 


148  HISrORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1824. 

horses  for  a  journey,  when  the  farmer  would  need  them  for  ploughing. 
If  the  schoolmaster  should  be  sick,  some  one  must  take  his  place.  From 
such  causes,  nearly  every  arrangement  of  this  kind  was  soon  broken  up. 
Putting  the  whole  under  the  direction  of  one  superintendent,  who  should 
decide  all  questions  without  consultation,  and  whom  all  must  obey  with- 
out questioning,  would  promiseunity  of  design,  and  promptness  and  effi- 
ciency of  execution  ;  but  it  would  be  altogether  too  despotic  a  system. 
Few  persons  of  much  worth  would  place  themselves  under  it  ;  and  still 
fewer  would  work  pleasantly  under  it  for  any  considerable  length  of 
time.  All  these  difficulties  were  aggravated  by  the  circumstances  in- 
separable from  a  new  settlement  in  the  wilderness,  where  unforeseen  ob- 
stacles were  to  be  overcome,  and  unexpected  deficiencies  supplied,  by  a 
community  of  families  from  distant  parts  of  the  country,  unacquainted 
with  each  other,  and  accustomed  to  different  habits  of  life  and  modes  of 
business.  And  besides  all  this,  the  community  must  be  made  up  of  per- 
sons who  had  come  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  religion,  and 
who,  therefore,  regarded  all  secular  cares  and  employments  as  affairs  of 
subordinate  importance  ;  as,  at  best,  unavoidable  incumbrances  of  their 
main  pursuit,  in  which  they  should  feel  as  little  interest  as  duty  would 
permit.  In  such  circumstances,  the  good  management  and  economy, 
indispensable  to  temporal  prosperity,  could  not  reasonably  be  expected  ; 
and  the  great  establishment,  which  had  the  appearance  of  wealth  and 
profit,  and  excited  envy,  and  gave  rise  to  injurious  reports  of  the  world- 
liness  of  the  mission,  was  really  a  heavy  burden  upon  the  treasury.  For 
reasons  of  this  kind,  which  are  given  at  great  length,  and  with  great  abil- 
ity in  the  annual  report,  the  Prudential  Committee  and  the  Board  adopt- 
ed the  following  conclusions  : 

"  Tliat,  as  the  instruction  of  the  heathen  in  Christian  knowledge  and  true 
piety  is  the  great  object  of  missions,  this  object  should  be  liekl  continually  in 
view  on  mission  ground,  from  the  very  first  ;  and  it  should,  therefore,  never 
be  merged  under  a  mass  of  secular  cares  : — That  the  mission  schools,  which 
afford  so  many  favorable  means  of  access  to  the  people,  are  principally  to  he 
valued  by  missionaries,  on  account  of  the  use  which  can  be  made  of  ihem  in 
communicating  divine  truth  : — That  our  main  reliance  must  be  placed  on  the 
plain  docirines  of  the  gospel,  for  any  permanent  melioration  of  the  character 
and  condition  of  any  heathen  people: — That  the  secular  labors  of  each  station, 
even  the  largest,  should  be  as  few  and  as  simple  as  possible  : — That,  there- 
fore, it  is  better  that  the  naiives  should  get  mechanics  to  live  among  them,  un- 
connected with  any  missionary  station,  than  that  the  attention  of  missionariea 
should  be  distracted  by  diversified  and  complicated  labors  : — That  the  number 
of  missionaries  and  assistants  in  any  one  place  should  be  as  small  as  can  be 
consistent  with  the  care  of  a  large  family  :— and  that  much  attention  should  be 
directed  to  the  establishment  and  instruction  of  small  scliools,  wherever  they 
can  be  commenced  with  a  favorable  prospect  of  success." 

These  convictions  had  for  some  time  been  gaining  strength  and  de- 
finiteness  in  the  minds  of  the  Committee.  They  had  been  much  strength- 
ened by  a  visit  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  to  Brainerd  in  1822. 

Even  then,  the  Cherokees  were  gradually  transferring  their  affections 


1824.]  CHEROKEE   MISSION  REMODELED.      CONVERSIONS.  149 

and  hopes  from  Brainerd  to  the  smaller  stations.  The  more  intelligent 
among  them,  such  as  Hicks  and  Reece,  saw  clearly  the  foundation  of 
the  ditficulty,  and  how  it  must  be  removed.  In  conformity  with  these 
views,  the  Corresponding  Secretary  visited  the  mission  in  March,  and 
after  full  examination  and  consultation,  made  the  following  assignments; 
which  reduced  the  number  of  residents  at  Brainerd  about  one  half:  — 

Mr.  Hoyt  and  Mr.  Ellis  to  reside  at  Willstown. — Mr.  Chamberlain's 
family  to  reside  at  Willstown  ;  Mr.  Chamberlain  to  be  principally  em- 
ployed as  an  evangelist,  in  making  the  circuit  of  the  Cherokee  nation. — 
Mr.  Potter  and  Mr.  Butrick  to  spend  some  part  of  their  time,  alternately, 
in  evangelical  labors  at  Brainerd,  and  in  the  vicinity. — Mr.  J.  C.  Els- 
worth  to  return  to  Brainerd,  and  his  place  at  Haweis  to  be  supplied  by 
his  brother,  Mr.  Frederic  Elsworth. — Dr.  Butler  to  reside  at  Creek  Path, 
and  teach  the  school  there. — Messrs.  Dean,  Parker,  Blunt  and  Hemming- 
way  to  remain  at  Brainerd. — Mr.  JHall  to  remain  at  Carmel,  and  Mr. 
Proctor  at  Hightower. — Mr.  Vaill  and  Mr.  Holland  to  reside  at  a  new 
station,  about  25  miles  N.  E.  of  Brainerd. — Mr.  Elsworth  to  teach  the 
boys'  school,  and  superintend  the  secular  concerns  at  Brainerd  ;  and 
Miss  Sawyer  to  teach  the  girls'  school. 

This  dispersion,  besides  avoiding  the  evils  already  mentioned,  secured 
a  more  intimate  imion  of  the  mission  with  the  Cherokees.  Its  several 
parts  appeared  less  like  a  civilizing  and  Christianizing  power  from 
abroad,  set  down  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  more  like  a  civilized  and 
Christian  part  of  themselves.  The  "  leaven"  was  brought  into  a  more 
perfect  contact  with  the  "  lump"  to  be  leavened,  and  could  more  easily 
extend  its  influence  through  the  whole  mass.  The  specimens  of  civili- 
zation, too,  exhibited  at  the  small  stations,  were  sufficiently  in  advance 
of  the  Cherokees  to  serve  as  models  and  stimulants ;  but  at  the  same 
time  were  not  so  far  in  advance,  as  to  discourage  them  by  a  superiority 
which  they  felt  unable  to  imitate. 

The  whole  subject  deserves  the  careful  study  of  those  who  would 
have  the  Board  engage  in  sending  out  missionary  colonies.  Laymen  of 
sufficient  enterprise  and  piety  may  doubtless  do  much  good  by  settling 
in  heathen  lands,  and  introducing  Christian  morals  and  the  arts  of  civili- 
zation ;  but  they  ought  to  go  as  individuals  or  colonists,  and  not  under 
the  direction  or  on  the  responsibility  of  a  missionary  society. 

How  far  these  changes  contributed  to  the  spiritual  cherokees. 

prosperity  of  the  mission,  this  year,  it  is  impossible  to  decide  ;  but  they 
were  doubtless  favorable  to  it.  At  Carmel,  formerly  called  Taloney, 
18  adults  were  baptized  in  March,  and  in  June,  the  whole  number  bap- 
tized on  a  profession  of  their  faith  during  fourteen  months,  was  47,  of 
whom  44  were  natives.  The  desire  for  Christian  instruction  was  in- 
creasing throughout  that  vicinity.  At  Hightower,  40  miles  southwest 
of  Carmel,  16  were  admitted  to  a  profession  of  their  faith  in  April. 
Among  them  was  the  chief  man  of  that  district,  who  was  about  60  years 
of  age.  There  were  also  instances  of  serious  inquiry  and  hopeful  con- 
version at  Haweis,  Willstown  and  Creek  Path,  and  even  in  parts  of  the 


150  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1824. 

nation  which  were  only  occasionally  visited  by  an  evangelist.  At  Wills- 
town,  a  church  was  organized  on  the  10th  of  October,  containing  nine 
converted  Cherokees.  The  church  was  formed  on  the  Presbyterian 
model,  and  one  of  the  converts  was  chosen  as  an  elder. 

In  September,  the  churches  at  Brainerd,  Carmel,  Hightower  and 
Willstown*  were  received  into  the  Union  Presbytery  in  East  Tennes- 
see. The  Pastors  and  elders  who  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Pres- 
bytery were  most  cordially  welcomed. 

chociaw  Mission.  The  relnforccment  by  way  of  Brainerd  arrived  early  in  the 
year.  There  was  some  special  attention  to  divine  truth,  and  some  instan- 
ces of  conversion  occurred,  during  the  winter  and  spring,  both  at  Elliot 
and  at  Mayhew.  Two  Choctaws,  the  first  fruits  from  that  nation,  were 
admitted  to  the  church.  Several  families,  at  some  distance  from  any  of 
the  stations,  appeared  to  receive  benefit  daring  this  gracious  visitation. 
Notwithstanding  occasional  instances  of  dissatisfaction,  the  schools  con- 
tinued to  gain  confidence  among  the  people,  and  several  new  schools 
were  opened  in  neighborhoods  where  they  were  earnestly  requested. 
This  mission  sustained  a  heavy  loss  in  September,  by  the  death  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Moseley. 

Arkansas  Mission.  At  Dwlght,  a  unlform  course  of  moderate  prosperity 

afforded  but  little  to  record.  There  was  no  general  or  extensive  revival ; 
but  during  a  great  part  of  the  year,  the  gracious  influences  of  the  Spirit 
were  evidently  enjoyed.  The  journal  of  the  mission  closes  with  the  re- 
mark, that  the  gospel  had  been  more  extensively  preachtd  than  for- 
merly, its  influence  on  the  people  more  visibly  manifested,  and  a  few 
had  been  added  to  the  Lord.  Much  assistance  was  rendered,  this  year, 
by  Mr.  David  Brown,  who  acted  as  an  interpreter,  and  was  faithful  and 
useful  to  his  brethren  in  private  conversation.  Chiefly  through  his  in- 
fluence, a  form  of  government  and  code  of  laws  were  drawn  up  and 
adopted.  He  was  chosen  secretary  to  both  branches  of  the  government. 
Sandwich  Islands.  Thc  good  work  wcnt  on  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,     In 

"''"■  January,  Messrs.  Goorich  and  Ruggles  sailed  from  Hono- 

lulu, to  establish  a  new  station  at  Waiakea,  in  the  district  of  Hilo,  on 
the  northeastern  side  of  Hawaii.  Here,  notwithstanding  some  opposi- 
tion, they  were  on  the  whole  well  received  and  successful  in  their  labors. 
In  the  autumn,  it  was  reported  that  they  were  suffering  for  want  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  and  the  brethren  made  many  unsuccessful  attempts 
to  send  them  supplies  from  Honolulu.  Hopu,  at  Kailua,  having  heard 
the  same  report,  volunteered  to  travel  across  the  island  alone,  on  foot, 
carrying  a  load  of  light  articles,  by  the  sale  of  which  their  wants  might 
be  supplied. 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Naihe  and  his  wife  Kapiolani,  and  of 
"  the  aged  Kamakau,"  Mr.  Ely  removed  from  Kailua,  16  miles  south, 
to  Kaawaloa,  where  Capt.  Cook  was  killed.     In  April,  Kamakau  re- 

*  The  vote  to  receive  this  church  must  have  been  passed  in  EinticipatioD  of 
its  existence  ;  as  the  church  was  not  formed  till  October. 


1824.]  GEORGE    TAMOREE's   REBELLION.  151 

quested  baptism,  and  was  propounded  for  admission  to  the  church. 
Kapiolani,  too,  appeared  to  be  truly  pious. 

Kiamoku,  (Gov.  Cox,)  died  in  March,  while  Mr.  Ellis,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  chiefs,  was  engaged  in  prayer  for  him.  The  chief  himself, 
when  very  near  his  end,  was  overheard,  praying,  "  0  Lord,  thou 
knowest  me.  Thou  hast  been  acquainted  with  me  from  my  childhood, 
and  knowest  all  my  sins  and  follies.  Remove  my  sins  and  pardon  me." 
His  brother  and  sisters  earnestly  requested  that  he  might  be  baptized  ; 
but  as  he  himself  had  not  requested  it,  as  the  evidence  of  his  piety  was 
by  no  means  decisive,  and  as  compliance  might  encourage  the  belief  that 
baptism  has  power  to  save,  the  missionaries  declined. 

His  death  was  followed  by  that  of  Tamoree,*  in  May.  Deaih  of  T«mcrM. 
No  chief  on  the  Islands  had  shown  more  decided  evidence  of  intel- 
ligent and  deep  seated  piety.  Previous  to  his  last  sickness,  he  had,  in 
several  instances,  taken  part  in  religious  conferences,  impressively 
exhorting  his  countrymen  to  repent  and  embrace  the  gospel ;  earnestly 
insisting  that  repentance  must  be  from  the  heart,  and  not  merely  outward. 

His  son  George,  or  Humehume,  the  reader  will  recol-  George  Tamoree-.  re- 
lect,  was  educated  at  Cornwall,  but  was  not  regarded  as  ^'""'"' 
pious.  Soon  after  his  return,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Liholiho,  whom 
he  styled  "king  of  the  windward  Islands."  This  M-as  understood  as 
implying,  that  he  was  not  king  of  Kauai  and  its  dependencies.  A  few 
months  afterwards,  Liholiho  visited  Kauai  in  an  open  canoe,  with  a  few 
attendants,  thus  placing  himself  in  the  power  of  Tamoree.  The  latter, 
however,  received  him  with  the  respect  due  to  his  rank,  and  publicly 
acknowledged  his  supremacy.  Liholiho  then  publicly  confirmed  Tamo- 
ree in  the  government  of  Kauai.  Soon  after,  a  vessel  having  arrived 
from  Oahu,  Liholiho  invited  Tamoree  on  board,  and  then  gave  secret 
orders  to  sail  for  Honolulu.  Here  Tamoree,  thus  torn  from  his  wife 
Kapuli,  was  married  to  Kaahumanu,  a  widow  of  Kamehamcha.  An- 
other chief  was  appointed  to  govern  Kauai  in  his  absence,  and  he  was 
never  allowed  to  return.  By  his  personal  character,  rank  and  connec- 
tions, he  was  enabled  to  exert  a  powerful  influence  in  favor  of  the  mission. 
He  bequeathed  Kauai  to  Kalaimoku  and  Kaahumanu,  the  regents,  in 
trust  for  Liholiho.  After  his  death,  Kalaimoku  visited  Kauai  to  receive 
the  submission  and  presents  of  its  various  chieftains.  George,  among 
others,  made  ready  his  gifts  and  set  forward  to  present  them  ;  but  on 
the  way  he  was  met  by  Kiaimakaui  and  others,  who  engaged  him  to 
head  a  rebellion,  promising  to  make  him  king  of  Kauai ;  telling  him  that 
the  island  was  his  father's,  and  should  be  his.  They  were  pagans,  and 
George  was  of  no  religion.  On  the  8th  of  August,  George  suddenly 
attacked  the  fort  at  Waimea,  but  was  repulsed.  Kalaimoku  immediate- 
ly gave  orders  that  thanks  should  be  returned  to  Jehovah  for  his  protec- 
tion ;  and  then  sent  the  missionaries  to  Oahu,  in  a  ship  which  he  des- 
patched for  reinforcements.     A  thousand  men  soon  arrived,  and  a  general 

'According  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  orthography,  it  should  be  Kaumualii. 


152  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1824. 

battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  insurgents  were  totally  defeated ;  losing 
30  or  40  men  in  the  action,  and  100  or  more  in  the  pursuit  that  fol- 
lowed. Kiaimakaui  was  among  the  slain.  The  victors  lost  but  one 
man.  George  escaped  to  the  mountains,  Kalaimoku,  wlio,  contrary  to 
former  custom,  had  through  the  whole  war  endeavored  to  diminish  the 
effusion  of  blood,  gave  orders  that  he  should  be  taken  alive  ;  and  on 
the  16th  of  September,  he  was  found  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  island, 
without  food,  clothes  or  arras,  with  no  possession  except  a  little  rum  in 
a  joint  of  bamboo,  which  he  immediately  swallowed,  and  which,  debil- 
itated and  half  intoxicated  as  he  was,  came  near  ending  his  life.  He 
was  kept  as  a  prisoner  at  large,  and  treated  with  kindness. 

In  May,  the  house  of  worship  at  Honolulu  took  fire,  and  in  a  few  min- 
utes was  consumed.  A  fire  was  formerly  an  occasion  of  plunder  ;  but 
now  the  people  were  active  in  saving  the  furniture,  doors  and  windows. 
Of  his  own  accord,  Kalaimoku  the  next  day  ordered  timber  to  be  brought 
for  another  ;  and  in  a  few  weeks,  a  larger  and  better  one  was  finished 
and  dedicated. 

Schools.  The  schools  flourished ;  though  the  business  of  instruc- 

tion was  much  retarded  for  want  of  books.  April  13,  Mr.  Loomis,  at 
Honolulu,  finished  printing  an  edition  of  3000  copies  of  elementary  les- 
sons in  spelling  and  reading.  That  very  evening,  the  regents  convened  the 
people, "  to  make  known,"  they  said, "  our  resolution  concerning  learning 
and  the  law  of  Jehovah."  They  declared  their  resolution  to  receive  in- 
struction themselves,  to  observe  the  Sabbath,  worship  God,  obey  his 
law,  and  have  their  people  taught.  Tamoree,  who  was  yet  living,  had 
long  been  in  favor  of  it  ;  and  Kalaimoku  said  it  would  have  been  done 
long  before,  but  for  the  habits  of  the  king.  The  chiefs  kept  their  word. 
At  a  public  examination  of  the  schools,  Kaahamanu  was  the  first  pupil 
examined.  She  selected  some  of  the  most  forward  scholars,  to  teach  in 
other  districts.  The  people  in  various  parts  of  the  islands  were  ordered 
to  build  school  houses  and  receive  instruction.  Before  the  end  of  the 
year,  50  natives  were  employed  as  teachers,  and  at  least  2000  had  learn- 
ed to  read. 

Temperdnce.  The   causc  of  good  morals  was  promoted,  both  among 

the  islanders  and  the  seamen  in  port.  In  March,  Capt.  Arthur  brought 
the  copy  of  an  agreement  for  the  promotion  of  temperance,  to  be  printed 
at  the  mission  press  ;  and  in  November,  Captains  Clasby  and  Paddock 
brought  forward  another,  which  contained  a  pledge  not  only  against  in- 
temperance, but  against  permitting  females  to  come  on  board  the  ships 
for  immoral  purposes.  These  agreements  were  signed  and  observed  by 
a  few.  A  distillery  belonging  to  the  natives  was  closed,  by  order  of  the 
government,  in  April. 

I'raying  men.  Thc  causc  of  rcliglon  advanced.     Of  this,  the  hundreds, 

and  even  thousands,  who  habitually  attended  public  worship,  were  not 
the  only  proofs.  The  people  had  never  thought  of  acting  according  to 
their  own  judgment  on  any  subject.  The  command  of  the  chief  was  law, 
and  supplied  the  place  of  thought  and  of  opinion.     If  the  chief  spoke  in 


1824.]  MR.  ELI. 13  RETURNS.  153 

favor  of  worship,  the}-  must  go.  But  most  of  the  bigbest  chiefs  them- 
selves showed  gratifying  evidence  of  piety,  and  intLreslinir  individual 
instances  were  found  among  the  common  people.  In  October,  :he  little 
sister  of  the  king,  with  her  attendants,  were  led  away  to  engage  in  an 
idolatrous  sacrifice ;  but  several  of  her  attendants  would  take  no  part 
in  it.  This  led  to  the  discovery  of  a  company,  to  which  they  belonged, 
of  "praying  men,"  so  called  because  they  were  in  the  habit  of  family 
and  secret  prayer.  The  company  was  convened,  consisting  of  about 
twelve.  The  eldest  of  them  was  the  blind  minstrel,  mentioned  in  the 
account  of  the  previous  year.  He  stated,  as  Mr.  Stewart  informs  us, 
that  "  it  w^as  by  coming  to  the  chapel,  that  he  began  to  love  the  word  of 
God  ;  that  now  his  love  for  it  was  very  great  ;  and  that  he  hated  all 
his  former  ways,  and  loved  every  thing  that  was  good  ;  adding, '  Great 
is  my  compassion  for  the  dark  hearts  that  have  been  kindling  fire  to 
their  old  gods,  and  strong  is  my  prayer  that  God  will  forgive  their  sin, 
and  send  them  his  Holy  Spirit.'  In  his  whole  statement  there  was  a 
simplicity  of  language  and  manner,  and  an  artlessness  and  sincerity,  that 
evidently  a'Tccted  the  hearts  of  all  present.  Our  Christian  sensibility 
was  deeply  touched.  His  countenance  and  gestures  spoke  even  more 
for  him  than  his  words,  and  we  could  but  entertain  very  favorable  hopes 
of  his  case.  The  meeting  was  closed  by  a  prayer  and  doxology.  We 
called  on  Puaaiki  to  address  the  throne  of  grace.  We  had  never  heard 
him  pray  ;  but  his  petitions  were  made  with  a  pathos  of  feeling,  a  fer- 
vency of  spirit,  a  fluency  and  propriety  of  diction,  and  above  all  a  humil- 
ity of  soul,  that  plainly  told  he  was  no  stranger  there.  His  bending  pos- 
ture, his  clasped  hands,  his  elevated,  but  sightless  countenance,  the  pe- 
culiar emphasis  with  which  he  uttered  the  exclamation,  '  0  Jehovah  !' 
his  tenderness,  his  importunity,  made  us  feel  that  he  was  praying  to  a 
God  not  afar  off,  but  to  one  who  was  nigh,  even  in  the  midst  of  us.  His 
was  a  prayer  not  to  be  forgotten  ;  it  touched  our  very  souls,  and  we 
believe  would  have  touched  the  soul  of  any  one  not  a  stranger  to  the 
meltings  of  a  pious  spirit." 

Auna,  the  Tahitian  deacon,  returned  to  his  own  coun-  Mr.Kn.reiun.s. 
try  in  March,  on  account  of  the  health  of  his  wife.  In  September,  by 
the  advice  of  the  mission,  Mr.  Ellis  accepted  the  offer  of  a  passage  to 
the  United  States  ;  a  change  of  climate  being  thought  indispensable  to 
save  the  life  of  Mrs.  Ellis.  He  arrived  at  New  Bedford  in  March  of  the 
next  year,  repaired  to  Boston,  consulted  with  the  Prudential  Committee 
and  other  friends  of  missions,  visited  many  parts  of  the  Northcf,  and 
Middle  States  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause,  and  after  a  most  gratify- 
ing and  useful  visit,  proceeded  to  London.  The  expense  of  his  passage 
was  defrayed  by  the  Board.  The  health  of  his  wife  not  permitting  his 
return  to  the  Pacific,  Mr.  Ellis  has  since  been  employed  as  Secretary  to 
the  London  Missionary  Society.  A  house,  which  Mr.  Ellis  had  erected 
at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  was  presented  by  that  Society  to  the  Board  m 
1834. 

20 


154  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1825. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

1825. — Meeting  at  Northampton. — Union  with  the  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society. — Committee  on  the  Foreign  Mission  School. — Bombay  Mission- 
ary Union. — Receptions  to  the  church  in  Ceylon. — Popish  mob  at  Malta. — 
Adventures  of  Mr.  Fisk  and  Mr.  King  in  Palestine. — Mr.  King's  return. 
Death  of  Mr.  Fisk. — Indian  Missions. — Mr.  Ledbetter's  proceedings. — At- 
tention to  Indian  languages. — Guess'  alphabet. — Cherokee  translations. — 
Sandwich  Islands — Increasing  evidences  ol'  piety. — Admissions  to  the 
church. — Capt.  Buckle  and  Leoil<i. — Riot  at  Lahaina. — Assault  on  the  mis- 
sion house. — Arrival  of  the  Blonde,  with  the  remains  of  the  king  andqueen — . 
Kapiolani  at  the  great  crater. — Progress  on  Hawaii. 

The  sixteenth  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Northampton,  September 
21,  22  and  23.     The  officers  of  the  Jast  year  were  re-elected. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury  during  the  year  ending  August  31,  were 
$55,716,18  ;  of  which  $53,725,48  were  from  donations  and  legacies. 
The  payments  to  meet  current  expenses  were  $41,468,53 ;  for  debts  due 
at  the  commencement  of  the  year,  $14,247,65;  leaving  of  the  debts 
unpaid,  $28.  This  statement,  however,  does  not  show  the  actual  ex- 
pense of  the  operations  of  the  Board  for  the  year.  According  to  an  ar- 
rangement made  with  Mr.  Newton,  at  Calcutta,  he  had  paid  nearly  the 
whole  expense  of  the  missions  in  the  East  Indies,  for  which  he  was  to  draw 
bills  on  the  Board,  payable  in  London.  These  the  Board  could  meet 
by  purchasing  bills  at  home,  also  payable  in  London  ;  and  thus  the  ne- 
cessity of  shipping  dollars  to  India,  and  of  providing  funds  in  advance, 
losing  the  interest  on  many  thousand  dollaro  annually,  was  avoided. 

A  communication  was  presented  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  McAuley, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  William  McMurray  and  the  Rev.  James  C.  Crane,  as  Com- 
missioners from  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  stating  that  they 
had  a  proposition  to  make  relative  to  an  amalgamation  of  that  Society 
with  the  American  Board  for  Foreign  Missions,  for  the  more  effectual 
promotion  of  the  great  objects  of  the  two  institutions;  whereupon,  these 
gentlemen  were  invited  to  sit  with  the  Board  as  Honorary  Members, 
during  the  ses.sion.  To  understand  the  bearings  of  this  transaction,  some 
events  of  preceding  years  must  be  noticed. 

The  New  York,  Northern  and  Western  Missionary  Societies,  whose 
formation  was  mentioned  in  the  introductory  chapter  of  this  work,  en- 
gaged, according  to  their  ability,  in  missions  to  both  whites  and  Indians 
along  what  were  then  the  frontier  settlements  of  the  United  States ;  but 
they  engaged  in  no  very  extensive  plans,  and  being  local  societies,  could 
not  expect  to  awaken  a  very  general  interest  in  the  cause  of  missions 
to  the  heathen.  Something  more  was  needed,  to  call  forth  the  ener- 
gies of  the  Presbyterian  Church.     The  American  Board,  therefore,  during 


1825.]         UNION   WITH   THE    UNITED   FOREIGN   MISSIONARY   SOCIETY.  155 

its  meeting  at  Worcester,  in  September,  1811,  adopted  a  resolution,  the 
substance  of  which  is  recited  in  the  following  reply,  which  it  called 
forth  :— 

"  At  a  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  held  in 
Philadelphia,  June  2, 1812, 

"The  Committee  to  which  was  referred  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Modera- 
tor, by  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  Jbr  Foreign 
Missions,  reported  ;  and  the  report,  being  read,  was  adopted,  and  is  as  tol- 
lows :    viz. 

"  That  having  had  under  consideration  the  important  and  interesting  vote 
of  the  Americanl3oard  of  Commissioners,  by  which  they  submit  to  tiie  Assem- 
bly, '  The  expediency  of  forming  an  Institution  similar  to  theirs,  between  which 
and  theirs  there  may  be  such  a  co-operalion  as  shall  promote  the  great  object 
of  missions  amongst  unevangelized  nations  ;'  it  appears  proper  to  state, 

"  1.  That  it  is  matter  of  sincere  joy,  in  their  apprehension,  to  all  who  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  souls  of  men — a  joy  in  which  the  Committee 
doubt  not  that  the  Assembly  has  a  lively  participation, — that  the  brethren  of 
the  Americaa  Board  of  Commissioners  tor  Foreign  Missions  have,  by  the  ex- 
ertions tiiey  have  used  and  the  success  of  those  exertions,  demonstrated,  that 
the  churches  of  America  are  desirous  to  embark  with  their  Protestant  breth- 
ren in  Europe,  in  the  holy  enterprise  of  evangelizing  the  heathen. 

"2.  That  as  the  churches  under  the  care  of  the  Assembly  rejoice  in  the 
foreign  missions  organized  and  about  to  be  organized  by  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners,  so,  as  opportunity  favors,  they  ousht  to  aid  them,  as  tjiey 
have  in  a  measure  already  aided  them,  by  contributions  to  their  funds,  and 
every  other  facility  which  they  could  oiler  to  so  conmiendable  an  undertaking. 

"  3.  That,  as  the  business  of  foreign  missions  may  probably  be  best  man- 
aged under  tlie  direction  of  a  single  Board,  so  the  numerous  and  extensive  en- 
gagements of  the  Assembly  in  regard  to  Domestic  Missions,  render  it  extreme- 
ly inconvenient,  at  fRis  time,  to  take  a  part  in  the  business  of  foreign  missions. 
And  the  Assembly,  it  is  apprehended,  may  the  rather  decline  these  missions, 
inasmuch  as  the  Committee  are  informed  that  Missionary  Societies  have  late- 
ly been  instituted  in  several  places,  within  the  bounds  ol"  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  make  foreign  niissions  a  particular  object  of  their  attention. 

"  Ordered,  that  the  Stated  Clerk  transmit  an  attested  copy  of  the  above  re- 
port, to  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  as  an  answer  to  the  letter  directed  by  him  to  the  Moderator  of  the 
General  Assembly." 

The  societies  here  mentioned  were  probably  auxiliary  to  the  Ameri- 
can Board  ;  as  it  is  not  known  that  any  others  had  been  very  "  lately" 
formed.  From  this  time,  many  auxiliaries  to  the  Board  were  organ- 
ized, and  many  donations  made,  by  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
It  appeared,  however,  to  Samuel  J.  Mills,  that  another  organization 
was  needed.  Through  his  influence, — as  we  are  informed  by  Dr.  Grif- 
fin,— the  "  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society"  was  brought  into  exist- 
ence. It  was  formed  by  a  joint  committee  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  and  of  the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed 
Church,  which  met  for  that  purpose  at  New  York,  July  25,  1817.  Its 
object  was  declared  to  be,  "  to  spread  the  gospel  among  the  Indians  of 
North  America,  the  Inhabitants  of  Mexico  and  South  America,  and  in 
other  portions  of  the  heathen  and  anti-Christiari  world."     Its  first  Board 


156  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1825. 

of  officers  were,  the  Hon.  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  President ;  Robert 
Lenox,  Esq.,  Henry  Rutgers,  Esq.,  Joseph  Nourse,  Esq.,  Rev.  Dr.  Ash- 
bel  Green,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Livingston,  Rev,  Dr.  A.  Proudfit,  Vice  Presi- 
dents ;  Rev.  Dr.  Phihp  Milledoler,  Corresponding  Secretary  ;  Mr.  Ze- 
chariah  Lewis,  Recording  Secretary;  Mr.  Divie  Bethune,  Treasurer ; 
Rev.  Drs.  Edward  D.  Griffin,  James  Richards,  J.  B.  Romeyn,  Rev. 
Messrs.  Gardiner  Spring,  Stephen  N.  Rowan,  Robert  B.  E.  McLeod, 
Messrs.  Rensselaer  Havens,  John  E.  Caldwell,  Isaac  Heyer,  G.  B.  Vroom, 
Andrew  Foster,  and  Samuel  Boyd,  other  Managers.  To  the  direction 
of  this  Boai-d,  the  concerns  of  the  New  York,  Northern  and  Western 
]\Iissionary  Societies  were  gradually  transferred. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1819,  the  Society  sent  out  Mr.  Epaphras  Chap- 
man and  Mr.  Job  P.  Vinal  on  an  exploring  tour  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
They  were  at  Brainerd  in  June,  and  thence  proceeded  west,  with  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Hicks  to  the  Cherokee  chiefs  on  the  Arkansas.  Havino- 
crossed  the  Mississippi,  visited  the  Cherokees  and  Osages,  and  selected 
a  station  among  the  latter,  Mr.  Chapman  returned.  Mr.  Vinal,  it  was 
supposed,  died  in  attempting  to  return,  in  feeble  health,  from  the  Ar- 
kansas country  by  way  of  New  Orleans.  The  first  mission  sent  out  by 
the  new  society,  left  New  York,  April  20,  1820,  to  go  by  way  of  Pitts- 
burgh and  the  Arkansas.  Nearly  $10,000  were  contributed  for  their 
support  in  a  few  days  in  New  York,  $3,000  in  Philadelphia,  and  liberal 
suras  at  Pittsburizh  and  other  places  on  the  route.  The  mission  con- 
sisted of  the  Rev.  V;illlam  F.  Vaill,  of  North  Guilford,  Ct.  ;  Rev. 
Epaphras  Chapman,  of  East  Haddara,  Ct.  ;  Dr.  Marcus  Palmer,  of 
Gieeiiwicl',  Ct. ;  six  farmers  and  mechanics,  Mrs.  Vaill  and  Mrs.  Chap- 
man, and  six  unmarried  female  assistants.  More  than  half  the  mem- 
l)ers  of  the  mission  were  from  Connecticut ;  the  others,  from  New  York 
and  New^  Jersey.  Two  of  the  female  assistants,  Miss  Lines  and  Miss 
Hoyt,  died  on  the  way,  and  nearly  all  suffered  severely  from  fever. 
About  the  end  of  the  year,  they  arrived  at  their  station  on  the  Neosho, 
or  Grand  River,  which  they  named  Union.  The  design  of  the  Society 
had  been,  to  establish  a  mission  among  the  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas; 
but  understanding  that  the  American  Board  had  made  arrangements 
for  a  mission  there,  to  avoid  collision  of  interests,  the  design  was  relin- 
quished.— In  August,  1S25,  the  Society  had  under  its  care,  ten  mission- 
ary stations,  seven  ordained  missionaries,  and  twenty  male  and  thiity  fe- 
male assistants. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  on  the  15th  of  August, 
1825, — to  quote  the  language  of  the  records, — "  on  a  development  being 
made  of  the  state  of  our  funds,  by  a  committee  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pose, it  was  moved  and  seconded  that  a  special  committee  be  appointed 
to  confer  with  the  '  American  Board  for  Foreign  Missions,'  on  the  sub- 
ject of  an  amalgamation  of  the  two  societies."  On  the  22d,  at  a  very 
lull  special  meeting,  called  for  that  purpose,  this  resolution  was  taken 
up  ;  and  "after  considerable  discussion,  it  was  unanimously  resolved," 
to  appoint  the  Rev.  Drs.  McAuiev  7)vr\  McMurray,  with  the  Domestic 


1825.]  UNION   WITH    THE    UNITED   FOREIGN    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY.  157 

Secretary,  Mr.  Crane,  to  attend  the  approaching  meeting  of  the  Board 
at  Northampton,  for  the  purpose  named  in  the  original  motion.  Thece 
commissioners  having  now  arrived  and  been  introduced,  as  ah'eady  re- 
lated, Messrs.  Hooker  and  Evarts  and  Dr.  Griffin  were  appointed  as  a 
committee  to  confer  wilh  tkem.  The  joint  committee  reported  in  favor 
of  the  proposed  union.  The  commissioners  from  the  Society  at  New 
York  then  addressed  the  Board,  urging  the  consummation  of  the  union 
by  the  following  arguments  : — 

That  the  most  friendly  relations  and  feelings  now  exist  between  the 
General  Assembly  and  the  Synods,  and  the  Orthodox  Associations  of  New 
Enoflarul. 

Tiiat  the  spirit  of  controversy  having  subsided,  the  intelligent  and  candid 
of  the  Christian  public  are  all  satisfied,  that  the  same  gospel  which  is  preach- 
ed in  the  Middle  and  Southern  and  Western  States,  is  preached  also  in  the 
Eastern  States. 

That  the  missionaries  of  both  societies  preach  precisely  the  same  gospel 
to  the  heathen  ;  and  that  the  same  regulations  are  adopted  bj^  both  in  the  man- 
agement of  missions. 

That  both  derive  much  of  their  funds  from  the  same  churches  and  individ- 
uals ;  that  the  great  body  of  (^^hristians  do  not  perceive  or  make  any  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  institutions,  and  consequently  do  not  perceive  any  ne- 
cessity for  two,  and  regret  the  existence  of  two  ;  and  that  many  churches  and 
individuals,  unwilling  to  evince  a  preference  for  either,  are  thus  prevented 
from  acting  promptly,  and  from  contributing  liberally  to  either. 

That  both  societies  are  evidently  embarrassed  and  cramped,  through  the 
fear  of  collision  and  dilRculty;  and  that  the  agents  of  both  are  discouraged 
and  limited  in  their  operations  by  the  same  apprehension. 

That  the  objects,  principles  and  operations  of  both  are  so  entirely  similar, 
that  there  can  be  no  good  reason  assigned  for  maintaining  two. 

That  the  claims  upon  the  churches  arc  becoming  so  numerous  and  fre- 
quent, and  the  necessities  of  the  destitute  so  urgent,  that  all  institutions  are 
sacredly  bound  to  observe  the  most  rigid  economy  ;  and  that  by  the  union, 
much  that  is  now  expended  ibr  the  support  of  offices,  officers,  agents,  &c,  will 
be  saved  for  the  general  objects  of  the  societies. 

And  lastly,  that  the  prevailing  feeling  in  the  churches  demands  a  union 
between  the  two  societies,  and  will  eventually  make  it  unavoidably  necessary. 

After  these  statements,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report  the 
terms,  on  which  they  supposed  the  union  might  be  formed  with  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  Their  report,  after  much  and  de- 
liberate discussion,  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Board,  and  received 
the  concurrence  of  the  Commissioners  from  New  York.  It  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  Preliminary  terms  in  contemplation  of  union. — As  the  amalgamation  of 
the  two  societies  cannot  be  completed  till  after  it  shall  have  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  highest  judicatories  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  which  cannot  take  place  before  the  meeting  of  tliosc  bodies  in 
May  next,  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  on  the 
one  part,  and  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  on 
the  other  part,  agree  to  these  five  preliminary  articles:  viz. 

"  1.  A  document  shall  be  issued  jointly  by  the  Prudential  Committee  of 
this  Board  and  by  the  Directors  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  as 


158  HISTORY    OF    THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1825. 

soon  as  it  can  be  conveniently  prepared,  statingf  and  explaining  in  what  sense 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  is  a  National 
Institution  ;  how  it  is  organized  ;  the  reasoiis  for  hoping  and  believing,  that 
this  organization  will  continue  to  receive  tlie  confidence  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity; and  the  reasons  which  have  had  weight  in  promoting  the  contem- 
plated union.  # 

"  2.  During  the  interval  which  must  elapse  between  the  present  time  and 
May  next,  the  Directors  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  will  make 
all  practicable  exertions  (o  replenish  its  Treasury  ;  so  that,  should  the  proposed 
union  take  place,  the  engagements  to  be  assumed  by  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  may  be  as  kw  and  small  as  possible. 

"3.  The  Directors  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  will  corres- 
pond with  the  missionaries  under  its  care,  explaining  to  them  the  proposed 
union,  and  advising  them,  if  the  measure  should  be  adopted,  to  transfer  their 
relation  to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

"4  That  the  Directors  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  will  di- 
rect the  missionaries  of  the  several  stations,  not  to  enter  upon  any  new  mea- 
sures involving  expense,  and  generally  to  practise  the  strictest  economy,  till 
the  result  of  this  proposed  measure  shall  be  known. 

"5.  As  the  Directors  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  contem- 
plate sending  an  agent  to  visit  the  stations  west  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Pru- 
dential (Committee  will,  if  practicable,  send  an  agent  also  to  accompany  him, 
and  ascertain,  from  personal  inspection,  the  condition  of  these  stations. 

"  Permanent  terms  of  union. — The  following  principles  are  adopted  as  the 
basis  of  the  proposed  union,  which  principles,  when  consented  toby  the  United 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  and  the  judicatories  above  referred  to,  shall  thence- 
forward be  binding  on  both  societies  : 

"1.  The  J?/Iissionaries  now  in  the  employment  of  the  United  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  shall,  if  their  character  and  standing  remain  unimpeached, 
be  received  as  missionaries  of  the  Board;  and,  if  any  of  them  should  be  un- 
willing to  enter  into  this  new  relation,  they  sliall  be  at  liberty  to  retire  from 
the  stations  which  they  now  occupy. 

"2.  The  property,  of  every  kind,  belonging  to  the  United  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society,  whether  at  the  missionary  stations  or  elsewhere,  shall  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  lor  Foreign  Missions,  on  the 
ratification  of  this  union. 

''  3.  The  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  will  as- 
sume all  the  engagements  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  as  they 
shall  stand  at  the  time  of  said  ratification  ;  it  being  understood,  however,  that 
the  fourth  preliminary  article  shall  have  been  complied  with. 

"  4.  In  the  election  of  members  according  to  the  provisions  of  its  charter; 
in  the  appointment  of  missionaries,  occasional  agents,  and  other  functionaries; 
and  in  the  administration  of  all  its  concerns,  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions  will  endeavor  to  merit  the  high  character  of 
a  truly  national  institution,  and  to  acquire  and  retain  the  affections  and  con- 
fidence of  all  classes  of  persons  who  have  heretofore  aided  either  of  these  so- 
cieties, and  of  all  others  who  may  wish  to  promote  the  salvation  of  the  hea- 
then. 

"  5.  As  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  has 
heretofore  consisted,  with  few  exceptions,  of  persons  belonging  to  the  Pres- 
byterian, Reformed  Dutch,  and  Congregational  Churches;  and  as  its  national 
character  will  always  insure  the  election  of  a  competent  and  satisfactory 
number  of  persons  from  these  religious  communities,  the  Board  will  send  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  General  Synod  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  the  several  General  Associations  in  the  New 
England  States,  as  many  copies  of  its  Annual  Report,  and  other  printed 
documents,  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  furnish  each  member  of  these  bodies  with 


1825.]       UNION   WITH   THE    UNITED   FOREIGN   MISSIONARY   SOCIETY.  159 

a  copy  ;  not  only  as  a  token  of  respect,  but  that  means  of  information  may  be 
afibrded  in  regard  to  the  measures  of  the  Board  and  its  missionaries^,  and  to 
any  success,  which  God  may  grant  to  its  exertions. 

"6.  The  highest  judicatories  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  Ciiurchwill  recommend  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  as  a  national  institution,  and  entitled  to  the  warm  sup- 
port and  efficient  patronage  of  the  churches  under  their  respective  jurisdic- 
tions. 

'•  7.  The  periodical  publications  of  the  Board  shall  be  sent  gratuitously  to 
all  societies  and  individuals,  now  entitled  to  the  periodical  publications  of  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  ;  and,  on  the  ratiiication  of  this  union,  the 
Missionary  Herald  shall  take  the  place  of  the  Missionary  Register." 

The  several  bodies  whose  assent  was  necessary  to  the  consummation 
of  this  union,  took  up  the  subject  at  their  next  meetings.  Though  the 
business  was  transacted  in  1826,  it  will  be  most  convenient  to  record  it 
here. 

The  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  at  its  annual  meeting  in 
New  York,  May  10,  1826, 

"  Resolved,  That  this  Society  cordially  approve  the  measures  adopted  by 
their  Board  of  Managers,  in  relation  to  the  union  of  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  and  the  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society." 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  took  up  the  re- 
port of  a  committee  on  this  subject  on  the  27th  of  May,  1826  ;  and, 

"After  mature  deliberation,  it  was  Resolved^  That  the  General  Assembly 
do  consent  to  the  amalgamation  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions  and  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

''^  Resolxed  further,  that  tiiis  General  Assembly  recommend  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  to  the  favorable  notice  and 
Christian  support  of  the  Church  and  people  under  our  care." 

"  The  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  during  its 
sessions  at  New  York,  from  June  7  to  June  16,  adopted  the  ibllowing 
preamble  and  resolution  : 

"  Whereas  a  committee  from  the  Board  of  the  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  did  enter  into  preliminary  arrangements  for  amalgamating  the  United 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  with  the  American  Board  of  Conmiissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions  ;  and  whereas  it  is  expressly  declared  that  no  pledge  of 
support  or  recommendation  to  the  patronage  of  our  churches  is  understood  to 
be  implied  in  the  consent  of  this  Synod  ;  therefore, 

"  Resolred,  Thai  this  Synod  consent  to  the  transfer  of  the  interest  of  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions." 

Resolutions  were  also  passed,  recommending  to  the  congregations 
under  the  care  of  the  Synod,  the  most  vigorous  exertions  to  support  and 
increase  the  funds  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church,  and  charging  the  Missionary  Board  of  that  church  "  to  consider 
the  propriety  of  taking  measures  to  begin  missionary  operations  among 


160  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1825. 

the  aborigines  of  our  country,  and  elsewhere."  And  it  is  worthy  of  re- 
mark, that  this  Synod,  which  was  so  careful  about  pledging  its  faith, 
and  so  undisguised  in  expressing  its  care,  has,  after  obtaining  more  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  character  of  the  Board,  become  one  of  its  most 
stable  coadjutors. 

Finally ; — at  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  United 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  July  3,  1826, 

"Present,  Rev.  Dr.  Mc Murray,  Rev.  Mr.  McElroy,  Mr.  Allen  and  Mr. 
Lewis  ;  a  letter  from  Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  having  been  read  ; — 

'■'■  Re^Dlved,  That  the  missionary  stations,  papers,  books  and  property  of  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  be  forthwith  Iransierred  to  the  American 
Board  ot  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions ;  and  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  McElroy, 
Mr.  Allen  and  Mr.  Lewis  be  a  sub-committee,  to  carry  this  resolution  into 
effect." 

On  the  consummation  of  this  union,  the  Board  became  responsible 
for  the  debts  of  the  Society.  Of  these,  nearly  $11,000  were  paid  before 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  1826,  and  5,000  or  6,000  more 
within  two  years  afterwards.  The  Board  also  received,  in  consequence 
of  this  union,  real  estate  and  other  property,  which  doubtless  cost  the 
Society  more  than  the  amount  of  its  debts ;  but  (he  whole  became  so 
mingled  with  the  other  property  of  the  Board,  being  included  in  the 
same  sales,  or  used  as  needed  for  the  support  of  the  same  missions,  that 
no  accurate  account  of  its  pecuniary  results  can  ea'ily  be  made  out. 

At  this  meeting  of  the  IBoard,  in  1825,  a  resoluliun  was  introduced, 
that  it  was  inexpedient  to  continue  the  Foreign  iWissiun  School,  at  Corn- 
wall. It  was  referred  to  Mr.  Evarts  and  Drs.  Bates  and  Beecher,  as  a 
committee.  They  reported,  that  a  committee  should  be  appointed  to 
take  the  whole  subject  into  consideration  ;  to  visit  Cornwall,  confer  with 
the  agents  of  the  School,  examine  into  all  its  concerns,  and  report  to 
the  Prudential  Committee,  who  should  then  be  authorized  to  act  defin- 
itively on  the  subject ;  and  that,  meanwhile,  no  new  expense  be  incurred 
for  the  erection  of  buildings.  The  report  was  adopted. 
Bombay  Missionary  On  thc  3d  of  Novembcr,  thc  Bombay  Missionary  Union 
was  formed.  It  was  to  be  composed  of  Protestant  mission- 
aries, holding  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  to  meet  annually, 
for  the  promotion  of  Christian  fellowship,  and  for  consultation  on  the 
best  means  of  advancing  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  that  country.  The 
missions  represented  were,  the  American  Mission  at  Bombay  ;  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society's  missions  at  Surat  and  Belgaum,  the  Church 
Missionary  Society's  mission  at  Bombay;  and  the  Scottish  Missionary 
Society's  mission  in  the  Southern  Concan. 

On  this  occasion,  Mr.  Hall  remarked,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  the 
United  States  : — 

"  What  a  contrast  with  the  trials  of  1813  and  1814  did  it  present  ! 
Instead  of  being  a  prisoner,  under  sentence  of  transportation  from  the 
land,  I  found  myself  among  the  representatives  of  five  Christian  missions, 


1825.]  BOMBAY   MISSIONARY   UNION.  161 

now  carrying  on,  without  molestation,  their  various  and  extensive  oper- 
ations in  this  immense  field,  where  then  there  was  not  a  single  mission 
established.  I  was  the  patriarch  among  the  little  missionary  brother- 
hood— none  around  me  so  old  in  years  and  missionary  labors,  and  not 
one  with  so  many  gray  hairs.  I  was  affectingly  admonished,  but  great- 
ly encouraged." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor  had  brought  with  him  from  Belgaura,  five  or  six 
natives,  who  gave  indications,  more  or  less  satisfactory,  of  piety.  Three 
of  them,  after  examination,  were  baptized  in  the  mission  chapel.  One 
native  from  among  their  own  hearers  also  was  admitted  as  a  member  of 
the  mission  church,  and  another  was  a  candidate  for  baptism.  Of 
the  three  from  Belgaum,  two  were  Brahmuns,  and  the  other  a  Raj- 
poot. 

Nearly  all  the  children  born  to  the  members  of  the  Bora-  DrrHrmre  of  m.i. 
bay  mission  had  died.  By  the  advice  of  physicians,  and  """ 
with  the  approbation  of  all  the  brethren,  Mr.  Hall  determined  to  send  his 
two  children,  both  feeble,  to  the  United  States,  as  the  only  means  of  pre- 
serving their  lives.  It  was  decided  that  Mrs.  Hall  should  accompany 
them,  and  having  placed  them  in  suitable  situations,  return  to  Bom- 
bay. She  embarked  on  the  last  day  of  July.  On  the  25th  of  October, 
the  eldest  died  at  sea.  She  arrived  at  Salem  with  the  other,  in  Novem- 
ber. As  the  feeble  health  of  her  son  seemed  to  require  her  attention,  and 
as  no  suitable  opportunity  to  return  presented  itself  during  the  short  res- 
idue of  her  husband's  life,  she  still  remains  in  this  country. 

This  mission  was  still  farther  weakened,  on  the  ISth  of  October,  by 
the  death  of  Mr.  Frost.  His  disease  was  consumption,  which  for  some 
time  carried  on  its  work  so  gently,  as  to  leave  its  existence  doubtful. 
He  met  death  with  a  calm  and  peaceful  confidence  in  his  Savior,  and 
with  unabated  attachment  to  the  missionary  work.  He  was  gratified  to 
learn  that  his  wife  chose  to  remain  in  Bombay,  and  labor  for  the  heathen 
after  his  decease. 

The  Ceylon  Mission  was  repeatedly  called  to  mourning.  L^yion.  D«ihi. 
The  widow  of  the  lamented  Richards  had  been  married  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Knight,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  By  this  connexion,  she  con- 
tinued in  the  missionary  work  till  April  26,  of  this  year,  when  she  was 
removed  to  "  a  better  country,  even  a  heavenly."  Mrs.  Woodward  was 
called  to  follow  her,  on  the  24th  of  November.  Several  children  of  the 
mission  families  and  pupils  of  the  schools  were  taken  away,  and  hun- 
dreds of  the  heathen  around  were  swept  off  by  the  cholera. 

Yet  the  year  opened  joyfully.  The  59  free  schools  contained  2414 
boys  and  255  girls,  taught  by  68  masters  ;  and  in  the  boarding  schools 
were  126  boys  and  31  girls ;  making,  in  all,  2824  pupils  from  among 
the  heathen.  Several  of  the  teachers  had  become  truly  pious,  and,  with 
the  more  advanced  scholars,  assisted  greatly  in  the  missionary  work. 
The  central  school  at  Batticotta,  which  was  intended  as  the  germ  of  a 
college,  was  highly  useful,  and  received  the  decided  approbation  of 
statesmen  and  divines,  in  different  parts  of  India  j  insomuch  that  about 

21 


162  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1825. 

$1,800  was  subscribed  for  it  in  Calcutta,  and  considerable  sums  at  Ma- 
dras and  in  Ceylon. 

Admissions  ID  (he  The  fruits  of  the  revivals  of  last  year  began  to  be  gath- 
churdi.  gj,g^|  jj^  ^^  ^j^g  20th  of  January.     '•  To  induce  many  peo- 

ple to  come  together  on  the  occasion,"  says  the  joint  letter  of  the  mis- 
sion, "  even  more  than  could  be  accommodated  in  any  of  our  places  of 
public  worship  ;  also  to  strengthen  the  hands  and  encourage  the  hearts 
of  the  native  members  of  our  church,  and  to  honor  the  Lord  in  the  sight 
of  this  people  ;  we  were  induced  to  erect  a  temporary  building  for  the 
services  of  the  day,  in  the  village  of  Santillepay,  which  is  nearly  in  the 
centre  of  all  our  stations.  Though  the  building  was  100  feet  long  and 
66  feet  wide,  yet  as  it  was  not  more  than  12  or  14  feet  high,  with  a  flat 
roof,  and  covered  on  the  top  and  sides  with  hadjans,  (the  braided  leaf  of 
the  cocoanut  tree,)  the  whole  expense  of  it  was  small ;  not,  probably, 
more  than  40  Spanish  dollars. 

"  The  number  of  people  present  could  not  have  been  less  than  from 
1200  to  1500.  The  number  of  persons  received  into  the  church,  at  that 
time,  was  forty-one.  Of  these,  36  belonged  to  our  charity  boarding 
schools,  and  5  were  from  among  the  people.  All,  except  8  of  this  num- 
ber, were  baptized  at  that  time,  and  also  5  children. 

"  After  the  address,  the  following  question  was  proposed  to  the  peo- 
ple :  '  Who  among  you  are  sincerely  desirous  of  becoming  Christians,  and 
are  determined  earnestly  to  seek  the  salvation  of  your  souls  V  All  such 
being  requested  to  rise,  immediately  more  than  100,  unconnected  with 
the  church,  stood  up  before  the  assembly,  and  then  publicly  declared 
their  belief  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  their  intention  to  become  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.  Some  of  this  number  are  already,  we  trust, 
the  humble  followers  of  the  Lamb,  and  will  probably,  in  the  course  of 
this  year,  publicly  profess  their  faith  in  Christ,  by  being  received  into  the 
church." 

On  the  21st  of  July,  another  similar  meeting  was  held,  when,  in  the 
presence  of  700  persons,  eight  more  were  admitted  to  the  church.  The 
number  of  native  members  admitted  from  the  beginning  was  now  83,  of 
whom  five  had  died  ;  and  there  were  twenty  more,  who  had  expressed 
their  desire  to  become  members,  and  of  whose  piety  hope  was  entertain- 
ed. It  has  been  often  asserted  by  the  enemies  of  missions,  that  none  of 
the  converts  in  India  are  of  any  respectable  caste.  Of  these  83  mem- 
bers, 30  were  of  the  Vellalla  caste,  11  of  the  Chitty,  and  15  of  the  Mad- 
apally  ;  in  all,  56.  These  are  the  highest  castes  in  the  island,  except 
the  Brahmuns.  Fifteen  of  the  native  converts  were  employed  by  the 
mission  as  assistants.  Two  of  them  resided  at  Kaits,  about  15  miles 
from  Jaffnapatam,  where  they  labored  as  catechists,  and  superintended 
two  small  schools. 

The  second  revival  of  1824  extended  some  time  into  the  present  year. 
In  March,  a  letter  from  Dr.  Scudder  speaks  of  "  a  religious  excitement 
at  the  several  stations  for  four  months  past."  Towards  the  close  of  the 
year,  the  hopes  of  the  brethren  were  again  raised.     Dr.  Scudder  wrote, 


1825.]        ADVENTURES   OF   MESSRS.    FISK  AND   KING    IN   PALESTINE.  163 

Dec.  20,  that  there  was  scarce  a  careless  boy  in  the  school  at  Batticotta. 
Dwight  and  Niles,  two  members  of  that  school,  came  to  Tillipally,  and 
exhorted  and  prayed  with  the  pupils  there  ;  and  a  few  days  after  wards, 
18  of  the  boys  were  found  to  be  seriously  attentive  to  religion. 

At  Malta,  the  press  continued  its  useful  labors,  princi-  Paiesune  Mis.ion. 
pally  in  the  Modern  Greek  and  Italian  languages.  Its  productions  were 
widely  distributed  and  well  received.  Members  of  different  communions 
labored  with  interest  in  this  work.  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Wilson  and  Hart- 
ley distributed  the  publications  in  Greece.  The  Rev.  Charles  Cook, 
Wesleyan,  obtained  subscriptions  in  France,  to  purchase  Arabic  type  ; 
and  several  clergymen  of  the  English  Episcopal  Church  were  among 
the  subscribers. — Labors  for  the  promotion  of  piety  in  Malta  were  con- 
tinued, and  were  at  least  efficient  enough  to  excite  opposition.  The  Pa- 
pal priests  anathematized  the  tracts,  and  delivered  inflammatory  ha- 
rangues against  the  missionaries  ;  and  early  in  the  year,  a  mob  assailed 
the  house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Keeling,  a  Wesleyan  missionary  with  whom 
Mr.  Temple  often  exchanged  labors,  and  drove  him  and  his  wife  away 
from  their  habitation.     It  was  dispersed  by  the  military. 

Mr.  Fisk  and  Mr.  King  arrived  at  Jaffa,  on  their  way  Labors  at  j^n.,. 
to  Jerusalem,  January  29.  Here  they  remained  for  several  weeks,  Mr. 
King  preaching  on  the  Sabbath  to  small  congregations  in  Arabic.  Their 
labors  gave  rise  to  many  reports,  which,  however  absurd,  yet  appeared 
credible  to  believers  in  magic  and  the  power  the  genii.  "  Some  said, 
that  we  bought  people  to  our  faith  with  money  ;  and  that  the  price  we 
gave  for  common  people,  was  ten  piastres,  and  that  those  ten  piastres 
always  remained  with  the  man  who  received  them,  however  much  he 
might  spend  from  them.  Some  said,  that  when  a  man  engaged  to  be  of 
our  faith,  we  took  his  picture  in  a  book,  and  that  if,  at  any  future  day, 
he  should  go  back  to  his  former  religion,  we  should  shoot  the  picture, 
and  the  man  would  die,  although  we  should  be  in  England,  and  he  in 
Asia.  Signor  G.  D.  informed  us,  that  a  Moslem  came  to  him  one  morn- 
ing, and  told  him  he  had  heard  that  there  were  men  in  his  house,  who 
hired  people  to  worship  the  devil,  and  asked  if  it  were  true,  saying,  that 
if  it  were,  he  would  come  and  join  us,  and  bring  a  hundred  others  with 
him.  '  What,'  said  Signor  D., '  would  you  worship  the  devil  V  '  Yes,' 
replied  the  Moslem,  '  for  the  sake  of  money  ;'  and  I  have  very  little 
doubt  of  his  sincerity.  The  greater  part  of  the  people  serve  him  now, 
and  that,  too,  for  very  miserable  wages.  Some  said,  that  we  had  caused 
a  great  shaking  in  the  city,  meaning  by  it  a  moral  commotion  ;  and, 
among  the  Mussulmans  it  was  reported,  that  we  had  actually  caused  an 
earthquake. 

"  Feb.  25.  Our  teacher  was  quite  frightened  to  day,  when  at  pray- 
ers in  the  Mosque.  Some  Mussulmans  came  to  him,  and  told  him  they 
had  heard  that  there  were  certain  men  here,  whom  he  instructed  in  witch- 
craft, that  they  had  made  an  earthquake  in  the  city,  and  that  it  was  they, 
moreover,  who  had  caused  the  great  earthquake  at  Aleppo.     Leaving 


164  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1825. 

the  Mosque,  he  came  to  us,  apparently  in  great  fear,  and  expressed  a 
desire  not  to  give  us  any  more  lessons. 

"  26.  He  came  and  informed  us,  that  two  learned  sheiks  had  call- 
ed on  him  early  in  the  morning,  to  inquire  whether  it  was  true,  that  those 
men  in  the  house  of  Domani  (Mr.  Fisk  and  myself)  had  caused  an  earth- 
quake ?" 

AtjeruEaitm.  Thcy  Brrived  at  Jerusalem  on  the  evening  of  the  29th 

of  March,  and  were  cordially  received  by  their  acquaintances.  Some 
came  out  with  lanterns  to  meet  them,  and  the  Greek  priests  offered  up 
prayers  for  their  welfare. 

The  time  of  their  residence  at  Jerusalem  was  a  time  of  consterna- 
tion and  distress.  The  Pasha  of  Damascus  sat  down  before  the  city  with 
about  3000  troops,  to  collect  his  annual  tribute.  The  amount  to  be 
paid  by  each  community  was  not  fixed  by  any  "  grand  list,"  or  investi- 
gation of  their  ability,  but  assessed  according  to  his  own  guess  or  caprice ; 
and  what  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  remit,  was  extorted  by  arrest, 
imprisonment  and  the  bastinado.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  fled  in  terror, 
and  those  who  remained,  spent  their  time  in  apprehension  and  distress. 

They  left  Jerusalem  on  the  8th  of  May  ;  and  passing  through  the 
interior,  arrived  at  Tyre  on  the  16th.  On  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  the 
ancient  Jezreel,  the  company  in  which  they  travelled  was  attacked  by 
a  party  of  Arabs.  A  trunk  had  been  stolen  from  one  of  the  company  ; 
two  Arabs  had  been  seized  on  suspicion  of  the  theft,  and  these  came  to 
their  rescue.  During  the  encounter,  a  severe  blow  was  aimed  at  the 
head  of  Mr.  Fisk  with  a  club,  which  grazed  his  turban  and  fell  upon  his 
shoulder  ;  and  the  lives  of  others  were  in  danger  from  the  sabres  of  the 
assailants.  When  it  was  understood  that  the  missionaries  were  under 
consular  protection,  the  Arabs  withdrew. 

Mr.  Kingreiires.  Mr.  King  spcut  thc  summcr   at  Beirut  and  Deir  el 

Kamar  ;  and  then,  his  term  of  service  having  expired,  he  left  Beirut  on 
the  26th  of  September,  and  after  a  tedious  voyage  of  89  davs,  arrived 
at  Smyrna,  December  4.  His  clothes,  books  and  papers  had  been  sent 
by  another  vessel,  which  had  been  taken  by  a  Greek  cruiser,  and  only 
a  part  of  them  were,  after  some  delay,  recovered. 
DeaihofMr.  Kisk.  A  morc  mclancholy  loss  to  the  mission  was  the  death 
of  Mr.  Fisk,  of  a  fever,  at  Beirut  the  23d  of  October.  He  had  accom- 
plished much  for  the  cause  of  missions.  Besides  the  labors  here  briefly 
recounted,  he  had  nearly  completed  an  Arabic  and  English  Dictionary, 
which  he  hoped  to  publish  the  next  year.  This,  and  many  other  fruits 
of  his  studies,  he  left  in  such  a  state  as  to  be  available  to  his  survivors. 
His  journal  for  the  greater  part  of  the  last  year  was  lost  on  its  way  to 
America.  His  character  and  attainments  were  well  adapted  to  com- 
mand respect  and  confidence,  and  perhaps  there  was  no  missionary  in 
the  service  of  the  Board,  whose  personal  friends  were  more  numerous 
and  devoted. 

At  Beirut,  study  was  still  the  chief  employment  of  the  brethren  ;  but 


1825.]  INDIAN   MISSIONS.      THE   METHODISTS.  165 

other  things  received  attention.  The  Sultan's  firraan  had  not  wholly 
arrested  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures.  One  evening,  17  copies  were 
sold  to  Armenian  pilgrims,  who  were  returning  from  Jerusalem  to  their 
home  at  Orfa,  the  ancient  Ur  of  the  Chaldees.  The  number  of  schools 
and  of  pupils  increased,  and  individuals  were  excited  to  serious  religious 
inquiry.  The  most  interesting  case,  that  of  Asaad  Shidiak,  is  reserved 
for  the  history  of  another  year. 

Several  new  stations  were  commenced.  The  schools  i»'ii m  MisMo,,,. 
were  improved,  the  gospel  was  preached  more  extensively,  and  there 
were  some  instances  of  conversion — chiefly  among  the  Cherokees.  In 
September  a  church  was  organized  at  Candy's  Creek,  with  eight  Chero- 
kee members,  and  one  white.  John  Arch,  the  faithful  Cherokee  inter- 
preter, gradually  declined,  and  died  as  became  a  Christian  on  the  18th  of 
June,  aged  about  28.  His  loss  was  deeply  felt  ;  but  John  Huss  was 
raised  up  from  among  his  countrymen  to  supply  his  place.  Rev.  Sam- 
uel A.  Worcester  was  ordained  at  Boston,  August  25,  and  the  next 
week  commenced  his  journey  to  the  Cherokee  nation.  His  station 
was  at  Brainerd.  Several  unordained  assistants  also  joined  the  mis- 
sions. 

Seeing  multitudes  perishing  for  want  of  instruction,  and  T^e  Meihoai.u. 
glad  to  welcome  any  increase  of  Christian  influence,  Mr.  Butrick  com- 
plied with  the  request  of  a  Methodist  preacher,  to  introduce  him  to  Mr. 
Hicks.  Several  of  that  church  were  for  a  time  zealously  employed 
among  the  Cherokees.  As  it  was  their  practice  to  admit  into  their  so- 
ciety, as  "seekers,"  any  who  professed  a  serious  desire  for  salvation, 
though  confessedly  unregenerate  at  the  time,  considerable  numbers  were 
enrolled.  Some  of  these  appear  to  have  become,  in  the  end,  stable  and 
consistent  Christians.  Others,  among  whom  were  some  of  the  inqui- 
rers in  the  congregations  at  Willstown  and  the  other  stations  of  the 
Board,  appeared  to  be  satisfied  with  having  done  so  much  towards  their 
own  salvation,  and  relapsed  into  a  state  of  carelessness  and  vice.  Mr. 
Kingsbury  had  some  time  before  expressed  to  Bishop  Roberts  his  willing- 
ness, and  even  desire,  that  the  Methodists  should  establish  schools  and 
preach  the  gospel  in  such  parts  of  the  Choctaw  nation  as  the  Board  could 
not  supply,  and  had  been  encouraged  to  expect  such  aid.  The  mode  in 
which  the  attempt  was  made,  and  its  result,  were  unfortunate.  A  new 
station,  to  be  called  Bethany,  had  been  commenced,  at  the  request  of  the 
Choctaws,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Capt.  Cole,  an  intemperate  chief,  who 
had  been  a  zealous  friend,  then  a  bitter  enemy,  and  again  a  friend  of  the 
mission.  More  than  $1,000  had  been  expended  in  erecting  buildings 
and  making  preparations  to  commence  the  school.  Dr.  Pride  was  to 
take  charge  of  the  station,  and  the  children  were  to  board  with  their 
parents.  Mr.  Led  better,  a  Methodist  preacher,  came  into  this  neighbor- 
hood, and  offered  to  take  charge  of  the  school,  to  receive  a  greater  num- 
ber of  scholars  than  had  been  proposed,  and  to  board  them  himself. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  Dr.  Pride  was  notified  that  the  buildings 


166  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1825. 

were  wanted  for  Mr.  Ledbetter.  In  view  of  the  existing  state  of  feeling, 
it  was  thoucrht  best  to  yield,  and  let  the  Choctaws  gain  wisdom  by  ex- 
perience. The  case,  however,  was  reported  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
who  in  due  time  informed  the  chiefs,  that  they  could  not  be  allowed  thus 
to  take  property  from  the  mission  at  pleasure.  Mr.  Ledbetter  was  to 
commence  his  school  on  the  1st  of  January,  1825.  When  the  time  ar- 
rived, he  was  unable  to  do  any  of  the  things  that  he  had  promised.  The 
Choctaws  became  disaffected,  and  in  a  few  months  drove  him  from  the 
nation.  It  was  in  reference  to  this  man's  ministerial  labors,  and  their  in- 
fluence on  the  prospect  of  numerous  conversions,  which  existed  when  he 
came,  that  Capt.  Folsom  said,  "  there  had  been  a  great  many  blossoms, 
and  he  thought  them  well  set  ;  but  there  came  a  storm  and  knocked 
them  all  off.  Capt.  Folsom  told  Mr.  Ledbetter  that  he  was  acting  like 
Jesuit  missionaries  ;  that,  by  enrolling  unconverted  men  as  Christians, 
he  was  making  them  worse  heathen  than  they  were  before. 
chocia*  Books.  The  conviction  was  increasing,  that  the  native  languages 

must  receive  attention.  Preaching  through  an  interpreter  was  found  to 
answer  the  purposes  of  preaching  but  imperfectly,  even  if  good  interpre- 
ters could  be  had,  which  was  seldom  possible.  Mr.  Byington  maintained 
that  to  teach  the  Choctaw  children  to  read  English,  the  easiest  and  quick- 
est way  was,  to  teach  them  to  read  their  own  language  first.  It  was 
desirable,  too,  that  adult  Choctaws  should  have  Christian  truth  on  record 
in  their  houses,  in  a  language  v;hich  they  could  understand.  Mr.  Bying- 
ton had  already  begun  to  preach  in  the  Choctaw  language.  He  and 
Mr,  W^rio;ht  now  began  to  prepare  elementary  books  in  that  language 
for  schools  ;  and  this  autumn  their  spelling  book  was  printed  at  Cin- 
cinnati. 

ciierakee  Alphabet.  Am.ottg  thc  Chcrokces,  thc  question  of  a  native  literature 

was  taken  out  of  the  control  of  the  mission,  by  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able events  in  the  history  of  mind  ;  the  invention  of  an  alphabet  by- 
George  Guess,  an  uneducated  native.  Hearing  some  of  his  young  coun- 
trymen speak  of  the  superiority  of  the  whites,  and  especially  of  the"  talk- 
ing leaf,"  on  which  they  could  put  down  a  "talk"  and  "it  would  stay- 
there,"  the  thought  struck  him  that  he  could  do  the  same.  He  took  up  a 
flat  stone,  and  attempted  to  write  a  sentence,  by  making  a  mark  for 
every  word  ;  but  his  companions  only  laughed,  and  he  was  silent.  From 
this  time,  he  continued  to  meditate  on  this  subject.  He  made  a  mark 
for  each  word  that  he  could  recollect,  till  the  number  amounted  to  sev- 
eral thousands.  His  memory  was  overburdened  with  them,  and  he  be- 
came convinced  that  there  must  be  a  better  way.  He  began  to  consider 
how  words  could  be  divided  into  parts,  and  soon  found  that  the  same 
character  would  answer  for  a  part  of  many  words.  Every  syllable  in 
the  Cherokee  language  is  either  a  simple  vowel  sound,  or  a  vowel  pre- 
ceded by  a  consonant.  The  vowel  sounds  are  six  ;  the  consonants, 
simple  and  compound,  12;  the  syllables  resulting  from  their  combina- 
tion, 72  ;  by  certain  modifications  of  a  few  of  these  syllables,  seven 


1825.]     DAVID  brown's  translation  of  the  new  testament.         167 

others  are  formed  ;  so  that  the  whole  number  is  85.  For  each  of  these, 
a  character  was  invented.  His  next  labor  was,  to  adapt  his  alphabet  to 
the  pen,  by  devising  characters  easily  made.  In  this,  he  derived  some 
assistance  from  an  English  spelling  book  ;  though  he  knew  not  the  name 
of  a  single  letter  in  it.  Wilh  such  an  alphabet,  Ihe  Cherokee  learns  to 
read  more  easily  than  any  other  people.  He  has  only  to  learn  the  names 
of  85  characters  ;  for  reading  is  only  naming  them,  one  after  another  as 
they  stand  on  the  paper  to  be  read  ;  just  as,  by  naming  the  letters  F  I  K  C, 
the  word  efficacy  is  pronounced.  Tolearn  these  characters,  two  or  three 
days  were  usually  found  sufficient. 

When  Guess  first  announced  his  discovery,  his  countrymen  were  in- 
credulous ;  but  repeated  and  careful  experiments  soon  convinced  them 
of  its  reality.  Many  came  to  him  to  be  instructed  ;  one  who  had  learn- 
ed, taught  another  ;  the  art  spread  rapidly  through  the  nation,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  very  few  years,  a  majority  of  adult  Cherokees  had  learn- 
ed to  read  their  own  language  j  and,  though  elegant  penmen  are  scarce 
everywhere,  yet  every  one  who  can  read,  can,  by  taking  pains  enough, 
write  so  that  others  can  read  his  writing. 

Christian  Cherokees,  when  they  heard  passages  of    p.vi.r un^wn'.  iram- 
Scripture  repeated  in  their  own  language,  would  often     '"^'"""f""^  ^• 
put  them  on  paper.    The  interpreters,  especially  John  Arch,  had  furnished 
copiesof  important  passagesof  the  New  Testament,  which  had  been  copied 
hundreds  of  times.     A  translation  of  the  whole  was  demanded.     The 
committee  had  long  been  comtemplating  such  a  work.     Mr.  Butrick 
had  paid  some  attention  to  the  language.     Mr.  Pickering,  aided  by  Da- 
vid Brown,  had  constructed  an  alphabet,  and  proposed  to  publish  a 
grammar,  towards  the  expense  of  which  the  Committee  had  appropria- 
ted $500.     But  what  Guess  had  done  threw  all  these  labors  out  of  con- 
sideration at  once.     The  Cherokees  would  hear  of  nothing  but  their 
own  alphabet  for  their  own  language.     David  Brown,  their  best  scholar, 
must  translate  the  New  Testament  ;  and  as,  owing  to  his  long  residence 
at  the  north,  his  knowledge  of  the  Cherokee  was  imperfect,  several  of 
their  most  skilful  orators  must  assist  him.     Hicks  insisted  that  he  must 
translate  from  the  Greek,  which  he  had  learned  at  Andover.     Whether 
David,  though  a  very  sensible  young  man,  was  able  to  translate  much 
better  from  the  Greek  than  from  the  English,  may  be  doubted  ;  but  the 
work  must  go  on  ;  and  on  the  27th  of  September,   1825,  the  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  from  the  original  Greek,  into  the  Cherokee 
language,  by  a  Cherokee,  in  an  alphabet  invented  by  another  Cherokee, 
was  completed.     As  there  were  vet  no  types  in  existence  for  printing 
that  language,  parts  of  Brown's  version  were  circulated  in  manuscript, 
in  all  parts  of  the  nation.     A  translation,  made  in  such  circumstances, 
could  not  fail  to  be  imperfect ;  but  its  circulation  must  have  been  of  great 
service  to  the  cause  of  Christianity,  especially  before  any  part  of  Mr. 
Worcester's  version  was  published.     Cherokee  hymns  were  also  circu- 
lated in  manuscript,  and  received  with  avidity. 


168  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1825. 

Cherokee  Press  anj       It  may  bc  wcll  to  recofd  ill  this  connexion,  that  in  1827, 
New.pap.r.  ^^^q  SupieiDe  Council  of  the  Cherokees  requested  the  Pru- 

dential Committee  to  procure  for  them  a  font  of  type,  press  and  furniture, 
to  be  paid  for  from  their  national  treasury.  The  type  was  made  in  Bos- 
ton, and  the  whole  apparatus  for  a  national  printing  office  was  forward- 
ed in  November.  On  the  21st  of  February,  1828,  the  first  number  of 
the  Cherokee  Phoenix  was  issued.  This  was  a  weekly  newspaper,  of  re- 
spectable size  and  execution,  in  Cherokee  and  English,  edited  by  Elias 
Boudinot,  a  Cherokee  who  had  been  educated  at  Cornwall.  In  its  lit- 
erary character,  it  was  far  above  the  average  of  American  newspapers. 
Hiring  Saves.  Auothcr  toplc,  whlch  belongs  to  the   history  of  this 

year,  may  be  introduced  by  an  extract  from  the  records  of  the  Prudential 
Committee. 

"  A'^ov.  14.  Communications  having  been  read  from  Mr.  Cyrus  By- 
ington  and  others  employed  in  the  Choctaw  mission,  on  the  subject  of 
hiring  blacks  held  in  slavery ;  and  it  being  known  to  the  Committee 
that  persons  thus  held  had  been  hired  of  their  masters,  with  their  own 
consent,  for  various  domestic  and  other  labors  of  the  mission  ; 

"  Resolved,  {hat  the  Committee  do  not  see  cause  to  prohibit  the  prac- 
tice ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  may  be  expe- 
dient, in  some  circumstances,  to  employ  persons  who  sustain  this  rela- 
tion, by  contract  with  their  masters  and  with  their  own  consent ;  it  be- 
ing understood,  that  all  the  members  of  the  mission  family  at  each  station, 
should  feel  the  obligation  of  treating  the  persons  thus  hired  with  kind- 
ness, and  laboring  to  promote  their  spiritual  good." 
Kansoming  Slaves.  A  letter  from  Mr.  Kingsbury,  written  about  this  time, 

mentions  that  the  consciences  of  some  of  the  brethren  would  be  better 
satisfied  by  a  different  contract.  They  would  have  the  price  of  the  slave 
paid  to  the  master  at  once.  The  wages  of  the  slave  should  also  be  fixed 
in  the  original  contract  ;  and  when,  at  the  rate  agreed  upon,  he  had 
earned  the  amount  advanced  for  his  ransom,  he  should  be  free.  In  these 
cases,  as  w^ell  as  the  other,  no  contract  should  be  made  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  slave.  Most  subsequent  contracts  were  of  this  latter  class. 
The  number  never  was  great,  but  several  obtained  their  freedom  by  this 
latter  form  of  contract  ;  and  the  greater  part  of  those  who  ever  labored 
for  the  mission  under  either  form,  became  pious  while  in  its  service. 

Of  the  mission  at  D  wight  there  is  nothing  to  record,  but  another  year 
of  hard  and  faithful  labor,  attended  with  steady  but  moderate  success. 
Sandwich  Islands.  Thc  missionarics  themselves  were  astonished  at  the  pro- 
gress which  religion  was  making.  At  Honolulu,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Piia  and  others,  a  fen\ale  prayer  meeting  was  begun  on  the  7th 
of  January.  At  the  monthly  concert  in  February,  a  letter  from  Kaahu- 
raanu  to  Kalaimoku  was  read,  in  which  she  proposed  to  visit  all  the 
principal  islands,  and  to  recommend  religion  and  encourage  schools. 
Her  character  appears  to  have  been  wonderfully  changed.  She  had 
been  proud,  haughty,  selfish  and  oppressive  ;  but  now  was  the  humble, 


1825.]  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.      REVIVAL    AT   LAHAINA.  169 

benevolent,  kind  and  laborious  mother  of  her  people.  When  she  visit- 
ed Hilo,  on  Hawaii,  the  change  in  her  character  was  a  topic  of  com- 
mon remark  among  the  natives,  who  called  her  "  the  new  Kaahumanu." 

The  first  prayer  meeting  for  men  was  held,  February  18.  A.i,„i»simi.  lo  ti.o 
Kalaimoku  was  present ;  and  from  his  account  of  himself,  it  '''""'"' 
appeared  that  a  saving  work  was  begun  in  his  heart.  Inquiry  meetings 
were  opened.  At  one  of  these,  in  May,  30  persons  expressed  their  de- 
sire for  baptism  ;  and  by  the  end  of  the  month,  130  had  requested  their 
names  to  be  enrolled,  as  persons  desirous  to  be  fully  taught  the  word  of 
God,  and  determined  to  obey  it  as  far  as  made  known  to  them.  In  June, 
ten  were  propounded  for  admission  to  the  church,  eight  of  whom  were 
admitted  in  December.  Kalaimoku,  Kaahumanu  and  Piia  were  among 
the  number.  Two  others,  one  of  whom  was  Puaaiki,  or  "  blind  Barti- 
meus,"  had  been  admitted  at  Lahaina  in  July.  Several  persons  at  Kaa- 
waloa  were  considered  as  candidates  for  admission. 

Hoapili-wahine  visited  Lahaina  in  February,  A  fe-  Revival  ntf.r,hain:i. 
male  prayer  meeting  was  soon  commenced,  at  which  ten  persons  were 
selected  to  be  present,  of  whom  the  young  princess,  Nahienaena,  was  one. 
She  had  been  led  astray  by  bad  advisers,  but  now  expressed  her  desire 
to  walk  in  the  way  which  her  good  mother,  Keopuolani,  had  recom- 
mended. At  10  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  February  24,  after  his  doors 
were  closed  for  the  night,  Mr.  Richards  was  called  upon  by  one  of  his 
native  neighbors,  who  said,  "I  want  you  should  direct  me  to  the  right 
way.  How  shall  I  proceed  ? — You  are  the  light — I  am  darkness — you 
must  enlighten  me."  Others  soon  came  on  similar  errands,  till  such 
calls  were  made  daily,  and  even  many  times  a  day.  On  the  second  of 
April,  about  an  hour  before  sunset,  two  men  came  for  religious  instruc- 
tion. Soon  others  came  ;  and  then  others ;  and  they  continued  to  come 
in  small  companies,  till  the  house  was  filled,  all  anxious  to  describe  their 
own  spiritual  state,  and  to  receive  instruction.     Mr.  Richards  writes  : — 

"  jipril  19.  As  I  was  imlking  this  evening,  1  heard  the  voice  of  pray- 
er in  six  different  houses,  in  the  course  of  a  few  rods.  I  think  there  are 
now  not  less  than  ffty  houses  in  Lahaina,  where  the  morning  and  eve- 
ning sacrifice  is  regularly  offered  to  the  true  God.  The  number  is  con- 
stantly increasing,  and  there  is  now  scarcely  an  hour  in  the  day,  that  I 
am  not  interrupted  in  my  regular  employment,  by  calls  of  persons  anx- 
ious to  know  what  they  may  do  to  be  saved. 

"21.  For  four  days,  our  house  has  not  been  empty,  except  while  the 
door  has  been  fastened.  When  I  wake  in  the  morning,  I  find  people 
waiting  at  the  door  to  converse  on  the  truths  of  the  Scriptures.  Soon 
Hoapili,  wife  and  train,  come  and  spend  the  day  ;  and  after  the  door  is 
closed  at  evening,  we  are  interrupted  by  constant  calls,  and  are  not  un- 
frequently  awaked  at  midnight,  by  those  who  wish  to  ask  questions. 
Houses  for  prayer  are  multiplying  in  every  part  of  the  village,  and  the 
interest  which  is  manifested  on  the  concerns  of  eternity,  is  such  as,  only 
six  months  ago,  I  did  not  expect  would  be  seen,  even  for  a  whole  gen- 
eration. 

22 


170  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1825. 

"23.  In  the  morning,  several  females  called,  for  the  purpose  of 
having  a  female  prayer  meeting  established.  Kaamoku  gave  me  the 
reasons  why  they  wished  to  have  another  meeting.  She  said,  that  the 
females  were  coming  to  converse  with  her  night  and  day,  and  in  so  great 
numbers  that  she  could  find  no  rest,  and  they  were  all  anxious  to  assem- 
ble together,  that  she  might  teach  them,  and  they  strengthen  each  other. 
She  said  she  was  acquainted  with  thirty-one  pray tng  females  in  Nahi- 
enaena's  train.  Considering  her  as  a  proper  person  to  superintend  a 
religious  meeting,  I  gave  my  approbation,  so  that  there  are  now  three 
separate  circles  of  females  in  Lahaina,  who  meet  regularly  for  prayer, 
embracing  the  number  of  about  sixty  persons.  Eleven  strangers  have 
called,  during  the  day,  to  converse  respecting  the  truths  of  Christianity." 

Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  inquirers  was  the  young  princess, 
Nahienaena.  As  she  advanced  in  religious  knowledge,  she  became 
disgusted  with  the  noise  and  bad  behavior  of  some  of  her  people,  and 
forbade  any  to  enter  her  house  who  could  not  read  hymns.  One  conse- 
quence of  this  was,  that  Wahinepio,  a  female  chief  who,  last  year,  was 
the  principal  agent  in  leading  the  princess  to  worship  idols,  was  angry, 
and  forbade  any  to  enter  her  house  who  was  not  skilful  in  dancing. 
capt.  Buckif.  But  if  Wahinepio  could  not  read,  some  of  her  people 

could.  One  of  them,  Leoiki,  a  fine  girl  of  about  16,  had  for  some  time 
been  an  attentive  student.  Not  only  her  mind  and  morals  improved, 
but  she  became  neat  in  her  dress,  and  agreeable  in  her  person  and  man- 
ners. It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  she  attracted  the  attention 
of  Capt.  Buckle,  of  the  British  whale-ship  Daniel,  who  resolved  to  have 
her  on  board  of  his  vessel.  Leoiki  well  understood  the  purport  of  the 
negotiation  which  he  commenced,  repaired  to  her  teachers  for  advice, 
wept,  and  begged  to  be  spared;  but  16  "golden  dollars,"  that  is  16 
doubloons,  valued  at  ten  dollars  each,  paid  to  Wahinepio,  prevailed,  and 
Leoiki  was  put  on  board  the  Daniel  for  a  voyage  of  seven  months. 
Wahinepio  soon  afterwards  confessed  that  she  had  done  wickedly.  The 
money  seems  to  have  been  a  troublesome  possession.  It  was  carried  to 
Nahienaena,  as  the  rightful  proprietor  of  all  the  people  ;  but  the  princess 
refused  to  touch  it.  It  was  afterwards  said  to  be  placed  among  the 
treasures  left  by  Liholiho :  and  itis  not  known  that  any  person  was  ever 
found,  willing  to  be  its  owner.  On  the  3d  of  October,  Capt.  Buckle 
returned,  and  found  a  law  in  force,  forbidding  women  to  visit  ships  for 
immoral  purposes.  On  the  evening  of  the  5th,  two  of  the  crew  called 
on  Mr.  Richards,  charged  him  with  being  the  author  of  the  law,  and 
insisted  that  he  should  procure  its  repeal.  He  informed  them  that  he 
had  nothing  to  do  with  enacting  the  law,  except  that  he  had  endeavor- 
ed to  teach  both  chiefs  and  people  the  principles  of  Scripture  morality  ; 
and  that  he  could  not  procure  its  repeal,  except  by  telling  them  that 
the  law  was  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God  ;  which  they  well  knew 
would  be  false.  The  men  withdrew  ;  but  others  soon  came,  demanded 
the  repeal  of  the  law,  and  enforced  the  demand  by  threatening  the  de- 
struction of  Mr.   Richards'  property,  then  of  his  life,  and  then  of  his 


1825.]  ASSAULT    ON   THE   MISSION-HOUSE.  171 

family.  He  replied,  that  he  had  but  one  course  to  pursue  ;  that  he  had 
come  to  devote  his  life,  longer  or  shorter,  to  the  salvation  of  the  heathen, 
and  that  he  should  lay  it  down  rather  than  retrace  a  single  step  he  had 
taken.  Mrs.  Richards  then  said,  "  I  am  feeble,  and  have  none  to  look 
to  for  protection,  but  my  husband  and  my  God.  I  might  hope,  that  in 
my  helpless  situation,  I  should  have  the  compassion  of  all  who  are  from 
a  Christian  country.  But  if  you  are  without  compassion,  or  if  it  can  be 
exercised  only  in  the  way  you  propose,  then  I  wish  you  all  to  understand, 
that  I  am  ready  to  share  the  fate  of  my  husband,  and  will  by  no  means 
consent  to  live  upon  the  terms  you  offer."  The  men  withdrew,  and  that 
night  the  house  was  guarded  by  natives.  The  next  day,  some  of  the 
crew  came  on  shore,  but  the  natives  kept  them  from  the  house.  Mr. 
Richards  wrote  to  the  commanders  of  some  American  ships,  but  they 
took  no  notice  of  his  letter.  He  wrote  to  Capt.  Buckle,  who  replied 
that  all  his  men  were  on  shore,  determined  not  to  return  without  women  ; 
and  that  it  would  be  best  for  Mr.  Richards  to  give  his  assent,  after  which 
all  would  be  "peace  and  quietness."  The  next  morning,  a  boat  put  off" 
from  the  ship  with  a  black  flag,  and  15  or  20  sailors  landed  from  it 
armed  with  knives,  and  some  of  them  with  pistols.  Being  refused  ad- 
mission to  the  house,  one  of  them  attempted  to  stab  a  native  with  his 
knife.  The  native  guard  was  reinforced,  and  by  order  of  the  chiefs,  the 
mission  house  was  soon  under  the  protection  of  about  200  natives,  armed 
with  muskets,  bayonets  and  spears.  The  mob  retired.  The  next  day 
was  the  Sabbath ;  and  though  many  sailors  were  on  shore,  public 
worship  was  attended  at  the  house  of  worship  without  interruption.  In 
the  night,  Mr.  Stewart  arrived  from  Honolulu.  As  he  approached  the 
mission  house,  a  stern  voice  demanded,  "  Who  comes  there  ?"  He  gave 
his  name.  The  distrustful  sentinel  aimed  his  musket  at  him  from  the 
window,  and  ordered  him  to  advance,  that  he  might  be  seen.  He  ad- 
vanced, was  recognized  and  admitted.  Capt.  Buckle  and  his  men  fre- 
quently called  on  the  chiefs,  and  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  law,  but 
in  vain.  They  declared  that  they  never  were  in  so  religious  a  place 
before  in  all  their  lives.  Capt.  Buckle  soon  sailed  for  Honolulu,  where 
his  crew  led,  and  American  sailors  followed,  in  similar  outrages.  There, 
too,  the  dwellings  and  lives  of  the  missionaries  were  protected  by  the 
armed  force  of  the  natives. 

A  very  different  influence  was  exerted  by  Lord  Byron,  vi.nofn.eBionde. 
of  the  British  frigate  Blonde,  sent  by  the  British  government  to  carry 
home  the  remains  of  the  king  and  queen.  The  Blonde  touched  at 
Lahaina,  on  the  5th  of  May.  Boki  and  his  wife  landed  in  the  first  boat, 
and  were  received  with  a  general  burst  of  lamentation.  As  soon  as  the 
first  transport  of  passion  was  over,  Mr.  Richards  suggested  prayer. 
Boki  said,  — and  they  were  the  first  words  uttered  by  any  of  the  party 
from  England — "  Where  shall  we  pray  V  Removing  a  little  distance, 
prayer  was  offered,  and  tranquillity  was  restored.  Two  days  afterwards, 
the  Blonde  arrived  at  Honolulu,  where  the  bodies  were  received  and  de- 
posited in  the  place  prepared  for  them  with  due  and  becoming  solem- 


172  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1825. 

nities.  A  special  council  of  the  chiefs  was  held  on  the  6th  of  June,  for 
establishing  the  government  and  fixing  the  succession.  The  chiefs  ex- 
pressed their  determination  to  support  Kiauikeouli's  right  to  succeed  his 
brother,  and  their  wish  that  he  might  have  a  Christian  education.  They 
asked  Lord  Byron's  opinion  of  the  American  mission.  The  principles 
of  the  mission  having  been  explained,  he  gave  it  his  decided  approba- 
tion. It  was  decided  that  the  young  king  should  remain  under  the  in- 
struction of  the  missionaries  for  the  present,  and  that  the  government 
should  continue  in  the  hands  of  the  regents,  Kalaimoku  and  Kaahumanu. 
Boki,  by  relating  his  conversations  with  the  king  of  England,  confirmed 
the  impressions  made  by  Lord  Byron.  The  king,  he  said,  told  him,  "  If 
you  wish  to  have  me  for  your  friend,  you  and  your  people  must  all  read 
and  write.  If  you  do  not  attend  to  instruction,  I  shall  not  be  your 
friend."  Of  the  missionaries  he  said,  "  They  are  men  to  make  others 
good.  I  always  have  some  of  them  by  me ;  for  chiefs  are  not  wise  like 
them.  We  in  England  were  once  like  the  people  in  your  islands :  but 
this  kind  of  teachers  came  and  taught  our  fathers,  and  now  you  see  Avhat 
we  are."  Whenever  Boki  repeated  this  conversation,  he  expressed  his 
own  solemn  conviction  of  its  truth  and  importance.  Lord  Byron  show- 
ed himself  a  decided  friend  of  the  mission  during  the  two  months  of  his 
stay  there.  Out  of  respect  to  him,  Waiakea,  in  the  district  of  Hilo,  on 
the  northeast  coast  of  Hawaii,  where  he  remained  for  some  time,  and 
which  was  accurately  surveyed  by  his  order,  was  called  "  Byron's  Bay." 
Revival  on  Hawaii.  Hcrc,  eamcst  inquiries  after  the  way  of  life  commenced 

in  January.  The  attentiveness  continued  and  increased,  till,  in  November, 
the  house  of  worship  was  not  large  enough  to  hold  half  the  worshippers. 
Besides  Mr.  Goodrich,  Honorii  was  stationed  here,  and  Hopu  had  labor- 
ed here  at  times.  Kaahumanu  exerted  a  good  influence,  when  here  with 
Lord  Byron.  Kapiolani,  too,  crossed  the  island  to  stir  up  the  people  to 
attend  to  instruction  and  worship.  In  her  journey,  she  passed  near  the 
o-rand  crater  of  Kilauea ;  and  perceiving  among  the  natives  signs  of  the 
fear  and  worship  of  Pele,  the  fabled  goddess  of  the  volcano,  she  boldly 
descended  into  the  crater,  and  composedly  worshipped  Jehovah  in  its 
awful  depths.  In  violation  of  immemorial  usage,  she  ate  the  berries 
consecrated  to  Pele,  and  threw  stones  into  the  crater.  The  people  were 
astonished  and  convinced,  and  pronounced  Pele  to  be  powerless. 

Around  her  own  residence  at  Kaawaloa,  the  station  of  Mr.  Ely  and 
Hopu,  and  the  neighborhood  of  "  the  aged  Karaakau,"  Kapiolani  was 
active  and  influential.  Her  people  gave  good  heed  to  instruction.  In- 
temperance and  other  gross  vices  disappeared,  and  numbers  appeared 
truly  pious.  The  news  of  the  happy  change  went  abroad  in  the  island, 
and  natives  from  distant  villages  came  to  Kaawaloa  to  inquire  concern- 
ing the  way  of  life.  At  Kailua,  too,  the  oldest  station  on  the  island, 
the  good  work  prospered.  Increased  attention  to  preaching  was  first 
observed,  and  prayer  meetings  were  established,  about  the  1st  of  July. 
For  some  time,  the  houses  of  the  missionaries  were  thronged  with  in- 
quirers, much  as  at  Lahaina ;  and  though  some,  as  at  other  stations, 


1826.]  AN'NUAL    MEETING    AT   MIDDLETOWN.  173 

soon  went  back  to  their  pleasures,  not  a  few  persevered,  and  appeared 
to  be  really  converted  to  God. 

Throughout  the  islands,  the  schools  prospered;  though,  Native  schoou. 
from  the  system  pursued,  it  is  not  easy  to  estimate  the  number  of 
learners.  At  Lahaina,  922  pupils  were  present  at  one  examination,  of 
whom  500  could  read,  and  300  had  read  all  the  books  in  the  language. 
At  Honolulu,  600  pupils  were  examined  in  April.  As  early  as  Feb- 
ruary, about  40  schools  were  known  to  be  in  operation  on  Hawaii,  and 
the  number  was  greatly  increased  during  the  year.  In  October,  16,000 
copies  of  elementary  lessons  had  been  given  out,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  there  were  nearly  that  number  of  learners  on  the  islands.  The 
people  were  not  allowed  to  wait  in  ignorance  for  accomplished  teachers. 
Everywhere  the  chiefs  selected  the  most  forward  scholars,  and  sent 
them  out  to  teach  others.  Such  of  these  teachers  as  were  conveniently 
situated  for  that  purpose,  were  formed  into  classes  for  further  instruc- 
tion. 

Mr.  Stewart  was  compelled  to  leave  the  mission,  on  account  of  the 
ill  health  of  his  wife.  A  gratuitous  passage  to  England  was  offered  by 
Capt.  Dale,  of  the  English  whale-ship  Fawn.  It  was  accepted.  They 
embarked,  October  15,  and  arrived  at  Gravesend  in  April,  and  at  New 
York  in  August  of  the  next  year. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


1826. — Annual  Meeting  at  Middletown.— Foreign  Mission  School  discontin- 
ued.— Bombay.— Death  of  Mr.  Hall. — Female  Schools. — Ceylon. — The 
Mission  Seminary,  and  the  Government. — Western  Asia.— Stations  at 
Smyrna. — Converts. — Asaad  Shidiak — Sandwich  Islands. — Criminal  Code 
enacted. — Visits  of  the  Dolphin  and  Vincennes. — General  prosperity. 

At  the  annual  meeting  at  Middletown,  Ct.,  on  the  14th  and  15th  of 
September,  the  Hon.  John  Cotton  Smith,  Vice  President,  presided.  A 
letter  was  received  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman,  resigning  the  presidency, 
on  account  of  age  and  infirmities  which  rendered  him  unable  to  attend. 
The  resignation  was  accepted,  with  thanks  for  his  faithful  and  useful 
services.  The  Hon.  J.  C.  Smith  was  chosen  President,  the  Hon.  Ste- 
phen Van  Rensselaer  Vice  President. — The  receipts  into  the  treasury 
had  been  $61,616,25;  and  the  payments  about  the  same.  The  greater 
part  of  the  expenses  of  the  missions  in  India  were  yet  to  be  met ;  the 
drafts  from  Calcutta  not  having  yet  been  presented. — The  union  of  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  having  received  the  necessary  sanc- 
tions, as  related  in  the  history  of  the  last  year,  a  large  number  of  gentle- 
men, residing  in  those  parts  of  the  country,  and  belonging  to  those 
communions  from  which  that  Society  derived  its  principal  support,  were 
elected  members  of  the  Board. 


174  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

The  Committee  on  the  Foreign  Mission  School,  appointed  at  the 
last  meeting,  reported  in  favor  of  its  discontinuance  ;  but  being  informed 
that  the  agents  hoped  it  might  still  be  made  useful  to  the  cause  of 
missions,  the  Board  authorized  the  Prudential  Committee  to  permit 
gentlemen  in  that  vicinity  to  use  the  property  for  that  purpose.  The 
agents,  after  mature  consideration,  declined  making  the  attempt ;  and, 
on  the  3d  of  November,  the  Committee  resolved  that  the  school  should 
be  immediately  discontinued.  Of  the  16  pupils,  some  returned  to  their 
homes,  and  others  were  placed  in  advantageous  situations  for  completing 
their  education.  The  experiment  had  fully  shown  the  importance  of 
educating  native  assistants  for  the  missions,  in  the  countries  where  they 
are  to  labor.  With  this  conviction,  Mr.  Ellis  had  advised  the  Sandwich 
Islanders  at  Cornwall  to  return  home  for  an  education  ;  and  in  this,  his 
opinion  accorded  with  that  of  the  other  missionaries  at  those  islands. 
Bomtay.  DeMh  of  Thc  BoMBAY  MissioN  WBS  this  year  deprived  of  the 

""'"""'  labors  of  Mr.  Hall.     In  January,  he  prepared  a  circular 

letter  to  Christians  in  the  United  States,  in  behalf  of  the  idolatrous  Hin- 
doos, and  especially  the  Mahrattas.  It  was  his  last  address  to  the 
churches.  It  was  printed  at  the  mission  press,  dated  February  1.  He 
had  also  just  completed  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  the 
Mahratta  language. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  he  left  Bombay  for  a  preaching  tour  on  the 
continent.  He  arrived  at  Nassick,  about  100  miles  from  Bombay,  on 
the  evening  of  the  15th,  and  immediately  commenced  preaching  and 
distributing  books.  The  cholera  was  raging,  and  swept  off  not  less 
than  200  on  the  day  after  his  arrival.  He  labored  among  the  distressed 
inhabitants,  till  his  supply  of  books  and  medicine  was  nearly  exhausted, 
and  then,  on  the  18th,  commenced  his  return.  The  next  evening,  about 
10  o'clock,  he  arrived  at  Doorlee-Dhapoor,  about  30  miles  on  his  way. 
He  spread  his  mat  in  the  viranda  of  a  heathen  temple,  and  lay  down  to 
sleep.  Suffering  from  the  cold,  he  removed  to  a  warmer  place  ;  but 
finding  it  occupied  by  two  sick  men,  one  of  whom  soon  after  died,  he 
returned  to  the  viranda.  About  four  o'clock,  he  called  up  the  two 
Christian  lads  who  attended  him  on  his  journey,  and  was  preparing  to 
set  forward,  when  he  was  seized  with  the  cholera.  So  sudden  and 
violent  was  the  attack,  that  he  fell  helpless  to  the  ground.  But  disease 
and  death  could  not  conquer  his  mind.  He  was  the  same  in  this  trying 
hour,  that  he  had  been  through  life ;  consecrated  to  the  execution  of 
vast  designs,  and  faithful  in  all  the  labors,  small  as  well  as  great,  by 
which  they  might  be  promoted  ;  unwavering  and  undisturbed,  because 
he  had  decided  in  the  light  of  Christian  principle,  what  was  the  course 
of  duty ;  never  consenting  that  the  weakness  of  human  feelings  should 
interfere  with  the  claims  of  Christ  and  of  the  heathen.  Now,  being 
laid  upon  his  mat,  he  first  took  the  small  quantity  of  medicine  that  re- 
mained unexpended  ;  but  his  stomach  immediately  rejected  it.  He  at 
once  clearly  foresaw  the  result,  and  calmly  prepared  for  it.  He  told 
his  attendants  that  he  should  die,  and  gave  them  directions  concerning 


1826.]  MISSION   SEMINARY   AT   CEYLON.  175 

the  disposal  of  his  body,  his  clothes,  and  other  articles  that  he  had  with 
him.  He  then  consecrated  the  few  remaining  moments  of  his  life  to 
missionary  labors.  He  told  the  heathen  who  stood  around,  that  he 
should  soon  be  with  Christ.  He  exhorted  them  to  repent  of  their  sins, 
and  forsake  their  idols,  that  they  too  might  be  prepared  for  heaven.  He 
prayed,  earnestly  and  repeatedly,  for  his  wife  and  children,  for  the 
mission,  and  for  the  heathen  around  him.  Having  spent  eight  hours  of 
violent  bodily  disease  in  such  employments,  he  exclaimed,  three  times, 
"  Glory  to  thee,  0  God  !" — and  then  expired.  With  difficulty  the  lads 
who  were  with  him  procured  a  grave,  where  they  buried  him,  shrouded 
in  his  blanket,  and  without  a  coffin.  A  stone,  erected  afterwards  by  his 
brethren  of  the  mission,  inscribed  with  his  name,  age  and  office,  in 
English  and  Mahratta,  marks  the  place  of  his  interment. 

But  two  missionaries  now  remained, — Mr.  Graves  and  st..tionsanj  school 
Mr.  Garrett.  The  stations  at  Mahim  and  Tannah  were  '"^""''' 
suspended,  as  was  also  the  boarding  school  for  children  of  European  de- 
scent. Pressing  invitations  to  open  free  schools  were  necessarily  declined, 
because  the  mission,  thus  reduced,  could  not  give  them  that  efficient  su- 
perintendence necessary  to  their  usefulness.  The  number  in  operation 
was  24.  Still,  the  cause  of  female  education,  so  specially  important  in 
a  country  like  this,  was  carried  forward  with  gratifying  success.  A 
school  for  girls  had  been  opened  in  February,  and  in  about  five  months, 
nine  others  were  established,  the  whole  containing  204  pupils.  One  of 
these  schools  was  taught  by  a  Hindoo  female.  Respectable  inhabitants 
of  Bombay  contributed  about  $300  for  the  support  of  these  schools. 
The  government  granted  the  use  of  four  unoccupied  public  lots,  on  which 
the  mission  wished  to  erect  school-houses. 

On  the  12th  of  October,  Mrs.  Frost  was  married  to  Mr.  Woodward, 
of  the  Ceylon  mission :  and,  on  the  19th,  Mrs.  Nichols  was  married  to 
Mr.  Knight,  also  laboring  in  Ceylon,  in  the  service  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

The  Ceylon  Mission  was  compelled  to  abandon  the  ceyi^n.Ti.e  seminary. 
design  of  establishing  a  College.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the 
Prudential  Committee,  by  the  kind  assistance  of  Mr.  Wilberforce,  opened 
a  correspondence  with  the  British  government  on  the  subject,  and  the 
mission  corresponded  with  the  government  of  Ceylon.  The  result  was, 
that  no  increase  of  the  number  of  American  missionaries  in  Ceylon  would 
be  permitted  ;  and  that  a  College,  if  established,  should  be  under  instruc- 
ters  from  Great  Britain.  Such  a  College  had  been  proposed  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Island,  and  was  then  under  consideration  of  the  govern- 
ment at  home.  This  decision,  however,  did  not  defeat  the  main  object 
of  the  undertaking.  It  was  still  possible  to  sustain  a  school  of  a  very 
high  order,  which  should  give  an  education  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  a 
collegiate  course.  Encouraged  by  liberal  subscriptions  in  India,  and  by 
favorable  opinions  both  there  and  in  America,  the  brethren  were  erect- 
ing buildings  such  as  would  be  needed  at  all  events.  The  principal 
building,  64  feet  by  29,  with  a  viranda  on  every  side,  designed  for  a 


176  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

library,  apparatus,  lecture  rooms  and  examinations,  was  called  Ottley 
Hall,  in  honor  of  Sir  Richard  Ottley,  Associate  Justice  of  Ceylon,  who 
had  shown  a  deep  interest  in  the  mission,  and  especially  in  this  Seminary, 
to  which  he  had  rendered  important  aid  by  his  personal  influence,  and 
by  liberal  donations.  Eight  rooms  for  study,  ten  small  rooms  for  devo- 
tional retirement,  a  dining  hall  and  kitchen,  were  also  erected.  As  pro- 
fessors could  not  be  sent  from  America,  native  assistants  were  employed, 
and  the  Seminary  was  made  to  furnish,  as  fast  as  possible,  a  competent 
faculty  for  itself.  Twenty-two  out  of  its  53  students  were  members  of 
the  church,  and  its  religious  influence  was  highly  gratifying. 

Early  in  the  year,  18  pupils  were  removed  from  the  preparatory 
school  to  this  Seminary.  It  being  understood  in  the  neighborhood  that 
there  would  be  vacancies  in  the  preparatory  school,  70  candidates  were 
presented  for  examination  to  fill  them;  from  whom  30  were  se- 
lected. 

On  the  7th  of  August,  the  journal  kept  at  Batticotta  notices  the 
monthly  prayer  meeting,  which  had  been  commenced  there  seven  years 
ago  that  day.  Since  its  first  establishment,  it  had  been  attended  by  29 
missionaries,  belonging  to  four  societies.  Of  all  these,  only  Mr.  Richards 
had  died.  Of  45  missionaries  who  had  labored  in  Ceylon  within  20 
years,  it  was  not  known  that  any  had  died  except  Messrs.  Ault,  Warren 
and  Richards. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year,  there  were  some  anxious  inquirers 
after  the  way  of  life ;  but  there  seem  to  have  been  few  instances  of  con- 
version.    Seven  natives  were  received  into  the  church  on  the  19th  of 
January.     The  whole  number  of  admissions  during  the  year  was  ten. 
Western  Asia.  The  Palcstiue  Mission,  as  it  has  hitherto  been  called, 

scarce  showed  itself  in  Palestine  during  the  year;  for  Parsons  and  Fisk 
rested  from  their  labors.  King  was  on  his  return,  and  its  other  members 
were  fully  employed  in  other  places.  It  is  henceforth  the  Mission  in 
Western  Asia. 

At  Malta,  the  press  was  kept  in  active  operation,  under  the  care  of 
Mr.  Temple.  Rev.  Eli  Smith  embarked  in  Boston,  May  23,  and  arrived 
at  Malta  July  13,  with  the  special  design  of  being  connected  with  that 
press.  Mr.  Homan  Hallock,  who  was  engaged  as  a  printer  for  five  years, 
sailed  for  Malta  in  October,  and  arrived  in  December.  After  delibe- 
ration, Mr.  Smith  sailed  from  Malta  for  Egypt  and  Syria  December  2, 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  Arabic  language,  and  making  other  pre- 
parations for  publishing  and  distributing  Arabic  books.  After  spending 
a  few  days  at  Alexandria,  he  arrived  at  Cairo  about  the  close  of  the 
month. 

New  stdtion  i>t  A  ncw  statlon  was  formcd.     The  Rev.  Elnathan  Grid- 

^"'*'°*'  ley  and  Rev.  Josiah  Brewer  sailed  from  Boston  in  Sep- 

tember, and  after  short  visits  to  Gibraltar  and  Malta,  arrived  at  Smyrna 
on  the  27th  of  December.  Mr.  Brewer's  support  was  pledged  by  the 
"  Female  Society  of  Boston  and  vicinity  for  promoting  Christianity 
among  the  Jews." 


1826.]  SUCCESS   AND   OPPOSITION   AT   BEIRUT.      CONVERTS.  177 

The  principal  scene  of  interest  in  connection  with  this  succ«s  ..nd  oppcition 
mission  was  at  and  around  Beirut.  In  that  city,  and  in  six  ""  "'"''" 
neighboring  towns  and  villages;  free  schools  were  opened  under  hired 
teachers.  During  the  first  half  of  the  year,  there  was  an  average  attend- 
ance of  305  scholars,  of  whom  30  were  girls.  The  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  ancient  and  modern  Greek  and  Armenian,  the  Arabic 
and  Italian  languages,  continued,  and  led  to  much  conversation  on  the 
contents  of  the  sacred  volume.  Mr.  Goodell  read  and  expounded  the 
Arabic  New  Testament  in  course.  The  hearers  were  few,  but  the  Holy 
Spirit  appeared  to  be  present.  The  farewell  letter  of  Mr.  King  to  his 
friends  in  Syria,  giving  the  reasons  why  he  could  not  join  the  Roman 
Catholic  church,  with  additions  and  Scripture  proofs  by  Mr.  Goodell, 
and  the  answer  of  the  mission  to  the  order  of  the  Maronite  Patriarch 
against  the  circulation  of  the  Bible,  were  extensively  read.  The  Ar- 
menian ecclesiastics,  Jacob  Aga  and  Dionysius,  wrote  letters  to  their 
countrymen,  which,  with  the  facts  of  their  marriage  and  intimacy  with 
the  missionaries,  excited  no  little  attention.  The  alarm  appears  to  have 
reached  the  hierarchy  of  every  sect ;  for  they  all  saw  operations  which 
threatened  to  overturn  their  institutions,  abolish  their  usages,  destroy 
their  power,  and  introduce  a  religion  substantially  different  from  any 
that  prevailed  among  them.  Rome  itself  was  more  thoroughly  aroused 
than  before,  and  sent  20  priests  and  $13,000  this  year  to  Syria.  Re- 
peated excommunications,  directed  against  the  mission,  the  schools,  the 
books,  and  all  who  favored  either  of  them,  were  read  in  both  the  Latin 
and  the  Greek  churches.  Jacob  Aga  was  deprived  of  his  office  as 
British  Consular  Agent,  by  the  Ambassador  at  Constantinople,  who 
was  probably  misled  by  the  representations  of  enemies  ;  and  it  was  said 
that  a  firman  had  been  obtained  for  his  arrest.  All  these  things  frighten- 
ed many  away,  beyond  the  sphere  of  missionary  influence.  War  also 
interrupted  their  labors.  In  March,  a  Greek  squadron  landed  500  men, 
who  attacked  the  city.  They  were  repulsed,  after  having  filled  the 
country  with  confusion  and  distress.  The  houses  of  the  missionaries  were 
generally  respected,  as  being  under  English  protection:  but  that  of  Mr. 
Goodell  was  plundered  by  Bedawin  in  the  Turkish  service.  The  Pasha 
of  Acre  afterwards  paid  for  the  property  carried  away.  In  consequence 
of  these  troubles,  the  schools  in  Beirut  were  reduced  from  100  scholars 
to  10.  After  about  two  months,  they  again  revived.  New  schools,  also, 
were  requested,  and  after  a  suitable  agent  had  been  obtained  to  visit  and 
superintend  them,  several  were  established.  One  was  at  Hosbaia,  on 
the  road  from  Sidon  to  Damascus,  where  the  Greeks  and  Moslems  offered 
to  defray  the  expense  of  a  school-house;  and  two  others  were  in  that 
vicinity. 

The  mission  rejoiced  over  several  converts,  who  appeared  to  be  truly 
pious.  Among  these  were  two  Armenians,  Jacob  and  Dionysius,  whom 
they  called  Carabet,  or  the  Fore-runner;  Gregory  Wortabet,  an  Arme- 
nian priest,  engaged  as  a  literary  assistant  to  Mr.  Goodell ;  Gregory's 
wife;  her  brother,  Joseph  Leflufy,  a  Greek  Catholic  engaged  in  the 

23 


178  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

autumn  as  an  agent  in  establishing  and  superintending  schools;  Asaad 
Jacob,  a  Greekyouth,  who  afterwards  apostatized;*  and  especially  Asaad 
Shidiak,  a  Maronite  whose  history  demands  a  more  particular  notice. 
Asaad  esh-shidiak.  Asaad  esh-Shldlak  was  the  fourthf  son  of  a  respecta- 

ble Maronite  of  Mount  Lebanon.  He  had  been  educated  at  the  College 
of  Ain  Warka,  and  afterwards  held  the  office  of  private  secretary  to  the 
Maronite  Patriarch.  In  the  summer  of  1825,  when  he  was  about  29 
years  of  age,  he  was  engaged  by  Mr.  King  as  an  instructor  in  Syriac 
and  Arabic,  and  was  employed,  a  part  of  the  time,  in  multiplying  Arabic 
copies  of  Mr.  King's  farewell  letter,  already  mentioned.  He  was  after- 
wards engaged  by  Mr.  Fisk,  to  open  a  school  intended  to  be  a  perma- 
nent free  school,  for  teaching  Arabic  grammatically.  Soon  after  Mr. 
King  left  Beirut,  Asaad  undertook  the  task  of  answering  the  farewell 
letter.  Having  made  a  rough  draft  of  a  reply,  and  copied  it  to  the  last 
topic  of  argument,  he  was  suddenly  turned  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  by 
consulting  a  proof  passage.  While  reading  this  sublime  portion  of 
Scripture,  he  became  deeply  serious,  and  was  filled  with  an  ardent  desire 
to  read  the  New  Testament,  and  to  be  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel.  He  endeavored  to  lay  aside  every  selfish  bias,  and  to  learn  the 
true  meaning  of  the  Bible.  While  in  this  state  of  mind,  he  was  shocked 
by  finding  it  taught  and  defended  in  the  Romish  Church,  that  it  is  a  duty 
to  kill  heretics.  In  November  he  received  a  letter  from  the  patriarch, 
threatening  him,  one  of  his  brothers,  and  another  Maronite  young  man, 
with  immediate  excommunication,  unless  they  ceased  from  all  connection 
with  the  Bible-men.  After  mature  deliberation,  it  was  thought  best  that 
he  should  retire  to  Hadet,  and  remain  with  his  friends  awhile,  in  the  hope 
that  alarm  and  opposition  would  subside.  In  this  retirement  his  mind 
was  still  fixed  upon  religion.  The  world  appeared  vain  ;  and  some  of 
his  friends,  as  was  natural,  thought  him  melancholy.  The  patriarch 
wrote  him  a  second  letter,  urged  him  to  an  interview^,  and  promised  to 
provide  an  office  for  him.  Still  he  preferred  to  return  to  Beirut ;  where 
he  made  an  engagement  with  Mr.  Bird  for  a  year. 

Early  in  January  1826,  the  patriarch  sent  his  own  brother  to  call 
upon  Asaad  at  Beirut,  and  urged  him  to  an  interview.  The  messenger 
intimated,  that  Asaad  probably  received  a  large  sum  of  money  from  the 
missionaries,  as  the  price  of  his  conversion  ;  and  that  the  patriarch  would 
see  that  he  should  lose  nothing  by  leaving  them.  To  this  intimation 
Asaad  replied,  that  he  only  received  moderate  wages  for  his  services  as 
a  teacher  ;  and  that  money  was  not  his  object;  but  that  he  was  simply 
in  pursuit  of  the  truth.  The  missionaries  warned  him  of  the  dangers  to 
which  he  would  be  exposed,  if  he  complied  with  the  request  of  the  pa- 

*  And  yet  his  subsequent  life  has  been  such,  that  some  missionaries,  who 
have  known  him  within  a  i&vf  years,  think  it  not  impossible  that  he  may  be  a 
truly  pious  man. 

t  In  all  documents  published  at  the  time,  and  in  the  first  edition  of  this  work, 
he  is  called  the  third  son.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Bird  afterwards  ascertained  that  he 
was  the foicrlh. 


1826.]  PERSECUTION.  179 

triarch ;  but  he  hoped  that  the  patriarch  would  be  softened,  and  that  he 
might  perhaps  be  induced  to  do  something  for  the  promotion  of  rehgion. 
With  these  hopes  he  went  to  the  convent  of  Der  Alma,  met  the  pa- 
triarch soon  after,  and  had  many  conversations  with  him.  The  main 
topics  on  which  he  insisted,  were  the  necessity  of  a  spiritual  religion,  in 
distinction  from  modes  and  forms  ;  the  sufficiency  of  Scripture,  and  the 
absurdity  of  holding  the  pope  to  be  infallible.  The  patriarch  was  highly 
displeased  with  these  bold  sentiments ;  at  one  time  uttering  cruel  threats, 
and  at  another  offering  honor,  promotion  and  money,  according  to  the 
course  which  Asaad  would  pursue.  Asaad,  finding  himself  deprived  of 
books  and  congenial  society,  and  exposed  to  cruel  raockings,  after  re- 
peated declarations  that  he  was  ready  to  seal  his  testimony  with  his  blood, 
privately  withdrew  from  the  convent  where  he  was,  and  arrived  at 
Beirut  on  the  morning  of  March  2.  The  missionaries  rejoiced  to  receive 
him,  having  been  greatly  concerned  for  his  personal  safety,  during  this 
absence  of  seven  weeks.  As  soon  as  his  mother,  brothers  and  other  rel- 
atives heard  of  his  return  to  Beirut,  they  flocked  to  him  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, to  persuade  him  to  leave  the  missionaries,  and  thus  save  the  family 
from  the  insupportable  shame  of  having  him  renounce  their  religion 
and  join  himself  to  foreigners.  After  many  painful  struggles,  he  accom- 
panied four  of  his  relatives  home,  on  the  17th  of  March.  The  missionaries 
strongly  opposed  his  going,  from  an  apprehension  that  he  would  not  be  able 
to  return,  as  he  expected  to  do  in  a  few  days.  He  thought  he  knew  the 
people  of  the  country,  and  that,  after  all  that  had  been  said,  they  would 
not  offer  him  violence ;  and  he  strongly  hoped,  that  his  visit  to  Hadet 
would  do  good.  In  about  a  fortnight,  twenty  or  more  of  his  relatives 
assembled,  took  him  by  force,  escorted  him  to  the  convent  of  Der  Alma, 
and  delivered  him  up  to  the  patriarch,  by  whose  order  he  was  subse- 
quently removed  to  Kanobin  [Cannobeen].  Here  he  endured  imprison- 
ment, chains,  stripes  and  revilings  in  succession  ;  and  often  all  of  them 
combined.  About  the  middle  of  May,  he  was  in  close  confinement,  in 
chains,  and  was  daily  beaten.  In  June,  having  made  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  escape,  he  had  a  heavy  chain  around  his  neck,  the  other  end 
of  which  was  fastened  to  the  wall.  The  patriarch  encouraged  the 
common  people  to  visit  him  in  his  confinement,  and  to  spit  in  his  face, 
and  call  him  odious  names,  in  order  to  shame  him,  and  break  his  spirit. 
Toward  the  close  of  July,  his  mother  and  other  members  of  the  family 
visited  Kanobin  at  the  request  of  the  patriarch,  who  informed  them  that 
Asaad  was  unwell.  They  found  him  in  chains,  which  they  were  un- 
willing to  believe  to  be  the  case  till  they  saw  it  for  themselves.  Galeb, 
a  younger  brother,  carried  a  written  application  to  the  patriarch,  signed 
by  the  whole  family,  pleading  for  Asaad's  liberation.  It  was  well  un- 
derstood, however,  that  Tanniis,  an  older  brother,  though  he  joined  in 
the  application,  sent  a  secret  messenger  to  prevent  its  success.  The 
mother's  heart  had  relented  ;  and  she  acknowledged  that  the  missiona- 
ries felt  more  tenderly  for  her  son,  than  the  Maronites  did.  Galeb  saw 
his  brother  in  September,  but  was  not  permitted  to  take  leave  of  him. 


180  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

About  two  months  afterwards,  Galeb  visited  Kanobin,  assisted  his 
brother  in  escaping,  and  brought  him  homeward  as  far  as  Kesrawan, 
where  the  fugitive  was  apprehended,  carried  bound  to  Gzir,  and  after- 
wards restored  to  the  patriarch  at  Kanobin.  From  this  imprisonment 
he  was  never  released.  The  Maronite  authorities  concealed  the  facts 
of  his  history  as  far  as  they  could,  frequently  sending  out  false  reports  of 
his  death.  After  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt, 
it  was  ascertained  that  he  was  really  dead.  Worn  out  with  cruel  mock- 
ings  and  scourgings,  with  bonds  and  imprisonments,  his  bodily  powers 
gave  way;  but  his  mind,  by  divine  grace,  proved  unconquerable,  and 
he  died,  a  constant  witness  to  the  truth. 

pimreishiai«u.  In  March,  Pharez,  the  youngest  of  the  brothers,  having 

been  found  in  the  act  of  reading  the  New  Testament,  was  struck  with  a 
sword  by  his  brother  Mansiir,  and  beaten  by  Tannus.  He  immediate- 
ly left  Hadet,  came  to  the  missionaries,  and  determined  not  to  go  home 
again.  He  was  soon  after  decoyed,  however,  by  Mansur  and  Galeb,  and 
taken  home  by  force.  From  this  time  till  November,  he  lived  princi- 
pally with  his  relatives,  though  he  kept  up  a  communication  with 
Messrs.  Bird  and  Goodell.  Wishing  for  an  opportunity  of  reading  the 
gospel  openly,  he  was  weary  of  the  constraint  imposed  upon  him,  and 
determined  to  leave  the  country,  if  possible.  Before  taking  this  step, 
he  went  to  Acre,  to  see  if  something  could  not  be  done  with  the  Pasha 
toward  obtaining  Asaad's  liberation.  The  attempt  was  unsuccessful. 
It  was  reported,  on  good  authority,  that  some  of  the  subordinate  rulers 
had  urged  the  two  oldest  brothers  to  take  the  life  of  Pharez,  if  he  could 
not  otherwise  be  separated  from  the  society  of  the  missionaries.  He 
therefore  remained  in  a  secret  place,  till  he  could  get  on  board  a  vessel 
bound  to  Alexandria,  whence  he  took  passage  to  Malta,  being  commend- 
ed to  the  care  of  Mr.  Temple.  He  left  Beirut  on  the  2d  of  December, 
having  written  a  forcible  letter  to  his  brother  Mansur,  and  had  several 
confidential  interviews  with  Galeb.  He  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
English  at  Malta,  and  continued  for  some  time  in  the  service  of  the  mis- 
sion. 

Indian  Missions.  Thc  ffiissions  to  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws,  and  Chero- 

changeof  !5y«iem.  ^^^^  of  thc  Arkausas  continued  their  usual  labors  with  but 
little  change,  either  in  themselves  or  the  people  to  whom  they  were  sent. 
Experience  showed  that  the  plan  of  reducing  the  larger  and  multiplying 
the  smaller  establishments  was  judicious  ;  and  there  seems  to  have  been 
a  general  disposition  among  the  brethren,  to  diminish  the  secular  cares 
and  labors  of  the  missions  as  far  as  circumstances  would  permit.  The 
blacksmith's  shop  at  Brainerd  had  been  put  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Dean, 
who  was  to  manage  its  concerns  according  to  his  own  discretion,  and  re- 
port directly  to  the  Prudential  Committee  ;  thus  relieving  the  mission  of 
all  care  of  the  establishment.  A  letter  from  Mr.  Washburn,  at  Dwight, 
suggested  that  the  same  arrangement  should  be  made  for  all  the  mechan- 
ics at  all  the  stations.  Among  the  Choctaws,  Mr.  Kingsbury  doubted 
whether  the  office  of  superintendent,  which  he  had  held  from  the  begin- 


1826.]  INDIAN  MISSIONS.      SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  181 

ning,  ought  not  to  be  abolished,  as  it  overwhelmed  one  man  with  the 
secular  cares  of  all  the  stations  and  nearly  destroyed  his  usefulness  as  a 
preacher,  and  gave  him  at  least  an  apparent  importance,  which  made  him 
an  object  of  jealousy  among  the  natives,  if  not  among  his  brethren.  The 
missionary  convention  beyond  the  Mississippi  resolved,  that  no  minis- 
ter of  the  gospel  ought  to  be  appointed  superintendent  of  a  mission.  The 
importance  of  farmers  and  mechanics,  to  introduce  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion, was  fully  recognized  ;  but  every  where,  among  the  experienced, 
the  conviction  was  gaining  strength,  that  large  establishments  and  com- 
plicated operations  should  be  avoided,  and  that  teachers  of  every  kind 
should  be  free  from  the  incumbrance  of  secular  cares.  And  it  is  worthy 
of  notice,  that  these  opinions  prevailed,  while  the  pecuniary  affairs  of 
these  missions  were  manifestly  improving. 

There  was  little  alteration  in  the  state  of  the  schools.  While  some 
increased,  others,  from  various  causes,  diminished,  and  probably  the  whole 
number  of  scholars  was  not  greater  than  formerly.  As  it  is  with  schools 
in  civilized  countries,  the  number  of  scholars  depended  much  on  the  ac- 
ceptableness  of  the  teacher.  The  management  of  each  school  was  dis- 
cussed, and  the  teacher  was  blamed  for  partiality,  for  making  his  pupils 
study  too  hard  or  for  their  insufficient  progress,  for  being  too  severe  or  too 
lenient  in  his  government,  just  as  he  would  have  been  in  any  school 
district  among  white  men.  Every  schoolmaster  knows,  that  his  judges 
are  troublesome  in  very  exact  proportion  to  their  ignorance  and  incom- 
petence. The  amount  of  trouble,  therefore,  encountered  by  teachers 
among  people  just  beginning  to  be  civilized,  must  be  immense.  Among 
the  Choctaws,  too,  some  felt  dissatisfied  because  their  annuity  of  $-6,000 
a  year  had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the  mission.  They  thought  them- 
selves able  to  manage  it,  and  probably  desired  the  profits  of  taking  care 
of  it.  Yet  the  most  influential  chiefs  and  more  intelligent  of  the  peo- 
ple were  decided  and  constant  friends  ;  and  from  year  to  year,  the  schools 
were  in  better  order  and  the  pupils  made  better  progress. 

Among  the  Cherokees,  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi,  there  were 
a  few  instances  of  conversion,  and  a  few  additions  to  the  churches. 

This  was  a  year  of  war.    "  Michael  and  his  ano-els  fought      c  ^u,,    , 

.'  Ill  *-*  Sandwich   Islan'ia. 

agamst  the  dragon,  and  the  dragon  fouffht,  and  his  angels."  o.i'P°/i''°"f">'"f"'- 
The  ten  commandments  had  been  translated  into  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Islands,  and  printed  at  Honolulu.  The  natives  were  told 
how  these  commandments  were  given,  and  that  they  were  God's  law, 
binding  on  all  mankind.  Hitherto  there  had  never  been  any  laws  upon 
the  Islands,  except  the  changeable  will  of  the  chiefs,  and  the  old  and 
now  exploded  superstition.  The  chiefs  proposed  to  enact  a  criminal 
code,  of  which  the  ten  commandments  should  be  the  basis.  This  was 
violently  opposed  by  many  of  the  foreign  residents.  The  missionaries 
were  charged  with  being  the  authors  of  the  proposed  code.  The  accu- 
sation was  false ;  but  what  if  it  had  been  true  ?  There  is  nothing  crim- 
inal in  urging  the  adoption  of  wholesome  laws.  If  the  missionaries  had 
drawn  up  a  complete  code  of  civil  and  criminal  jurisprudence,  and  by 


182  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

dint  of  persevering  argument,  brought  the  chiefs  and  people  to  adopt  it, 
and  been  active  and  constant  advisers  and  assistants  in  all  the  details  of 
its  execution,  till  theft,  drunkenness  and  adultery  and  every  vice  was 
suppressed,  and  law  and  order  established  throughout  the  Islands,  they 
would  have  done,  better  than  it  ever  was  done  before,  what  has  immor- 
talized some  of  the  most  illustrious  benefactors  of  the  human  race.  But, 
in  view  of  existing  circumstances,  such  a  course  was  not  thought  expe- 
dient. That  "  wicked  and  unreasonable  men"  might  have  no  occasion 
of  fault-finding  ;  that  the  chiefs  might  have  no  occasion  of  jealousy  ;  and 
that  they  themselves  might  not  be  drawn  away  from  the  more  impor- 
tant work  of  preaching  the  gospel,  the  missionaries  had  been  instructed, 
as  are  all  missionaries  of  the  Board,  to  abstain  from  intermeddling 
in  any  way  with  the  concerns  of  the  government  ;  and  they  had  scrupu- 
lously obeyed.  Two  of  their  accusers,  however,  the  British  and  Amer- 
ican consuls,  whose  offices  rendered  such  interference  peculiary  impro- 
per, did  interfere  with  the  government  in  a  most  objectionable  way.  They 
■went  to  the  young  King,  a  boy  about  fourteen  years  old,  and  told  him 
that  the  regents,  his  guardians,  had  no  right  to  make  laws ;  and  that  he 
alone  had  the  right.  They  recommended  a  code  which  should  forbid 
nothing  but  murder,  treason  and  theft.  Indeed,  every  remonstrance  of 
a  foreigner  against  the  promulgation  of  a  code,  or  against  any  of  its  en- 
actments, was  an  interference  with  the  affairs  of  government.  But, 
though  such  opposition  was  violent  and  persevering,  some  laws  were 
promulgated  ;  and  among  them  was  one  forbidding  females  to  go  on 
board  the  ships  in  port,  on  pain  of  imprisonment  during  the  pleasure  of 
the  chiefs. 

vuii  of  ihe  Dolphin.  Thls  law  had  been  in  force  about  three  months,  when, 
on  the  14th  of  January,  the  U.  S.  armed  schooner  Dolphin,  commanded 
by  Lieut.  John  Percival,  arrived  at  Honolulu.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of 
the  Dolphin,  her  commander  expressed  his  regret  at  the  existence  of  the 
law  concerning  females  visiting  ships  on  an  infamous  errand.  He  next 
insisted  upon  the  release  of  four  prostitutes,  then  in  the  custody  of  the 
government  for  a  violation  of  the  law.  This  demand  was  pressed  re- 
peatedly, and  in  the  most  persevering  manner,  till  at  last  it  was  partially 
successful. 

In  the  mean  time,  several  among  the  higher  chiefs  came  to  the  mis- 
sionaries, stating  that  the  commander  of  the  Dolphin  had  threatened  to 
shoot  Mr.  Bingham,  if  he  appeared  at  the  council  of  the  chiefs,  when  he 
(the  said  commander)  was  transacting  business  with  them  ;  and  that, 
unless  the  law  against  prostitution  was  repealed,  he  would  come  and 
tear  down  the  houses  of  the  missionaries.  They  asked,  what  would  be 
the  duty  of  the  natives,  in  case  of  apprehended  violence.  The  mission- 
aries replied,  that  such  threats  would  not  be  executed  ;  that  every  offi- 
cer of  the  American  navy  was  accountable  to  his  government  at  home  ; 
and  that  the  chiefs  need  not  be  anxious  on  the  subject.  This,  however, 
■did  not  satisfy  them.  The  inquiry  was  still  pressed,  "  What  shall  we 
do,  in  case  your  houses  are  attacked  1     You  are  our  teachers.     We  are 


1826.]  LIEUT.    JOHN    PERCIVAL,   U.   S.    N.  183 

not  willing  to  have  you  killed.  If  we  lose  you,  we  cannot  get  other 
teachers,  and  we  shall  be  left  in  darkness."  The  answer  was  the  same 
as  before.  "  The  commander  of  the  Dolphin  will  not  dare  to  molest  us, 
while  found  only  in  the  prosecution  of  our  duty.  But  even  if  he  should, 
we  intreat  you  not  to  resort  to  violence  in  our  defence." 

On  Sabbath,  the  26th  of  February,  public  worship  was  held  in  the 
forenoon  as  usual,  when  3000  people  attended.  The  service  was  in  the 
open  air,  the  roof  of  the  great  chapel  having  fallen  several  weeks  before, 
in  consequence  of  a  violent  rain.  In  the  afternoon,  the  unfavorable 
state  of  the  weather  prevented  a  meeting,  as  the  hearers  would  have  been 
without  shelter.  At  five  o'clock,  Mr.  Bingham  went  over  to  the  house 
of  Kalairaoku,  for  the  purpose  of  holding  worship  there,  with  such  indi- 
viduals of  the  chiefs  and  others,  as  might  find  it  convenient  to  attend. 
Soon  afterwards,  six  or  seven  sailors  from  the  Dolphin,  armed  with  clubs, 
entered  the  upper  room,  where  the  sick  regent  was  lying  on  his  couch, 
with  his  friends  around  him,  and  demanded  that  the  law  should  be  re- 
pealed. They  threatened,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  tear  down  the  houses. 
Confusion  ensued  ;  and,  before  the  rioters  could  be  made  to  leave  the 
house  and  the  yard,  they  had  broken  all  the  windows  in  front.  While 
this  was  going  on,  their  number  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  several 
others,  who  made  similar  demands.  When  driven  from  the  house  of 
Kalaimoku,  they  directed  their  course  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Bingham. 
Seeing  this,  and  knowing  his  family  to  be  unprotected,  Mr.  Bingham  ran 
home  another  way,  hoping  to  arrive  there  first.  Not  being  able  to  do 
this,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  rioters,  by  several  of  whom  he  was 
seized,  some  of  them  holding  a  club  over  him  in  the  attitude  of  striking. 
The  natives,  who  had  borne  the  whole  with  astonishing  forbearance,  now 
interfered  by  laying  hold  of  the  sailors,  so  that,  in  the  bustle,  Mr.  Bing- 
ham was  released.  He  was  afterwards  pursued  by  other  small  parties. 
One  sailor  aimed  a  blow  at  him  with  a  club,  and  another  stabbed  at  him 
with  a  knife  ;  but  he  happily  escaped  without  injury.  All  the  rioters 
were  secured  by  the  natives.  After  this  affray  had  ceased,  ten  other  sail- 
ors arrived,  a  part  of  whom  attacked  Mr.  Bingham's  house,  and  broke 
in  a  window.  While  two  were  attempting  to  force  the  door,  one  of  them 
suddenly,  and  in  an  unaccountable  manner,  turned  round  and  struck  the 
other  with  a  club,  so  that  he  fell,  and  was  carried  off"  as  dead.  Some  of 
the  chiefs  cried  out  to  the  people  earnestly, "  Do  not  kill  the  foreigners ; — 
hold  them  fast ; — handle  them  carefully."  To  which  one  or  two  an- 
swered with  spirit,  "  How  can  we  handle  them  carefully,  when  they  are 
armed  with  knives  and  clubs  ?"  One  of  the  crew  of  the  Dolphin  receiv- 
ed some  dangerous  cuts  from  a  sabre  in  the  possession  of  a  native ;  and  of 
the  two  or  three  sailors  who  had  joined  the  mob  from  other  ships,  one 
was  indebted  to  the  direct  interference  of  Mr.  Loomis  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  his  life. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Lieut.  Percival  waited  on  the  chiefs, 
and  declared  that  the  prohibition  should  come  off;  that  he  was  deter- 
mined not  to  leave  the  islands  till  the  law  was  repealed ;  and  that  he  had 


184  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

rather  have  his  hands  tied  behind  him,  or  even  cut  off,  and  go  home  to 
the  United  States  mutilated,  than  to  have  it  said,  that  the  privilege  of 
having  prostitutes  on  board  his  vessel  was  denied  him,  after  it  had  been 
allowed,  as  he  alleged,  to  a  certain  other  individual  whom  he  named. 
Messrs.  Bingham,  Loomis,  and  Chamberlain  were  present  at  this  con- 
versation, and  two  of  them  at  least  took  part  in  it. 

But  the  most  painful  portion  of  this  sad  history  is  yet  to  come.  The 
next  day  it  was  rumored  that  females,  who  should  go  on  board  ships, 
■would  not  be  punished  ;  and,  in  a  day  or  two,  the  missionaries  learned 
with  sorrow,  that  some  of  the  chiefs,  wearied  by  importunity,  and  ter- 
rified by  threats,  had  given  a  kind  of  indirect  permission,  by  intimating, 
that  if  any  females  should  resort  to  their  old  practices,  it  should  not  be 
very  strictly  inquired  into,  but  they  should  simply  be  considered  as  dis- 
graced and  excluded  from  the  society  of  the  good.  Accordingly,  a  con- 
siderable number  repaired  on  board.  When  the  first  boat  with  females 
passed  along  the  harbor  of  Honolulu,  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  a 
shout  ran  from  one  deck  to  another  as  if  a  glorious  victory  had  been 
achieved. 

When  Kalaimoku  was  informed  of  the  permission  which  had  been 
given,  he  called  before  him  the  chiefs  who  had  relaxed  the  authority  of 
the  law,  and  inquired  of  them  what  the  facts  were.  They  quailed  at  his 
severe  rebuke  and  wept  under  his  chiding.  But  the  fatal  deed  was 
done,  and  could  not  be  recalled.  The  flood-gates  of  immorality  were 
open,  and  a  deluge  of  pollution  could  not  be  prevented. 

When  it  was  known  that  the  law  was  prostrate.  Lieutenant  Perci- 
val  called  upon  the  chiefs  to  express  his  gratification.  He  said  he  was 
now  at  ease  ;  and  that  he  intended  to  visit  Maui  and  Hawaii,  where  the 
prohibition  was  still  in  force,  and  compel  the  chiefs  in  those  islands  to 
rescind  it.  So  great  a  calamity  was  kindly  averted  ;  and  Honolulu 
alone  was  polluted  by  a  visit  from  the  Dolphin.  The  influence  of  this 
vessel,  during  the  subsequent  ten  weeks  of  her  stay,  may  well  be  im- 
agined. So  odious  was  it,  even  in  the  eyes  of  the  common  people,  that 
they  applied  to  the  vessel  and  her  commander,  interchangeably,  the  ap- 
pellation of  the  mischief-making  man-of-war. 

On  receiving  information  of  these  proceedings,  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee made  a  formal  complaint  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  order- 
ed a  Court  of  Inquiry.  The  final  result  of  the  investigation  never  was 
published,  as  it  doubtless  would  have  been,  in  justice  to  Lieut.  Percival, 
had  he  been  acquitted.  The  natural  inference  is,  that  he  was  sentenced 
to  receive  a  private  reprimand,  and  perhaps  a  suspension  for  a  time  from 
the  public  service.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  visit  of  theVin- 
cennes  to  the  islands  in  1829  had  some  reference  to  these  transactions. 

The  Dolphin  remained  at  the  islands  about  four  months  ;  but  her 
disastrous  influence  did  not  terminate  at  her  departure.  Irreligion  and 
vice  had  gained  a  strength  and  boldness  which  could  not  be  overcome 
at  once.  The  life  of  Mr.  Bingham  was  threatened,  and  was  thought  to 
be  in  danger.     In  November,  and  subsequently,  some  chiefs  of  inferior 


1826.]  VISIT   OF    THE    U.    S.    SLOOP   PEACOCK.  185 

rank  were  seduced  into  the  practice  of  gaming  and  intemperance,  and  a 
considerable  number  of  the  people  followed  their  example. 

Similar  scenes  were  enacted  at  Lahaina.  While  Mr.  ouimseat  Lahoin^i. 
Richards  was  absent,  in  October,  the  station  was  visited  by  English  and 
American  whale  ships,  whose  crews  committed  gross  outrages  upon  the 
peace  and  property  of  the  inhabitants.  The  Governor  was  absent  like- 
wise, and  the  place  was  left  in  the  charge  of  a  female  chief,  a  niece  of 
Kalaimoku.  The  anger  of  the  sailors  was  excited  by  the  fact,  that  pros- 
titution was  forbidden.  This  prohibition  they  charged  upon  Mr.  Rich- 
ards ;  and  a  mob  proceeded  to  his  house  for  the  purpose  of  killing  him, 
as  they  declared.  Not  finding  him  at  home,  and  his  house  being  guard- 
ed by  faithful  natives,  they  turned  to  such  of  his  other  property  as  they 
could  find,  and  destroyed  it.  Kekauonohi,  the  female  chief,  commanded 
all  the  females  of  the  place  to  flee  with  her  to  the  mountains,  which  or- 
der was  promptly  obeyed.  The  sailors,  after  filling  the  place  with  vio- 
lence for  a  number  of  days,  pillaging  the  houses  of  the  natives,  and  de- 
stroying their  property,  returned  on  board,  having  totally  failed  of  their 
object. 

This  pernicious  influence  was  in  some  degree  counter-  vist of  the  peacrdt. 
acted  by  the  visit  of  the  U.  S.  sloop  of  war  Peacock,  Capt.  Thomas  Ap 
Catesby  Jones,  which  arrived  at  Honolulu  in  October,  and  remained  till 
January.  With  an  independence  worthy  of  his  olfice  and  reputation. 
Captain  Jones  kept  himself  uncommitted,  till  he  had  an  opportunity  to 
judge  for  himself.  At  the  general  meeting  in  October,  a  circular  was 
prepared,  and  signed  by  eight  missionaries,  representing  all  the  stations, 
in  which  they  state  the  course  they  have  pursued,  deny  the  charges 
brought  against  them,  and  challenge  an  investigation.  The  foreign  res- 
idents laid  hold  of  the  word  "  challenge,"  and  appointed  a  meeting  for 
them  to  appear  and  defend  themselves.  At  this  meeting,  the  missiona- 
ries demanded  that  their  accusers  should  bring  definite  charges,  in  wri- 
ting, and  produce  their  evidence  in  support  of  them.  Mr.  Charlton,  the 
British  Consul,  who  took  the  lead  of  the  opposers,  refused  to  bring  any 
definite  charges,  but  said  he  and  his  friends  had  come  to  hear  what  the 
missionaries  had  to  say  and  prove.  He  spoke  for  some  time,  and  repeat- 
edly, saying  that  he  was  dissatisfied  with  the  management  of  the  mission ; 
that  the  people  were  growing  worse  ;  that  no  chief  would  dare  testify 
against  a  missionary,  and  the  like  ;  but  refused  to  have  any  thing  that 
he  had  said  written  down,  as  a  charge  that  he  was  to  support  by  proof. 
Capt.  Jones,  having  remained  a  mere  spectator  till  he  perceived  the 
•whole  ground  of  dispute,  requested  that  the  whole  circular  might  be 
read.  After  hearing  it,  he  said  that,  as  he  viewed  the  subject,  it  was 
the  business  of  those  gentlemen  who  had  replied  to  the  circular,  to  direct 
the  attention  of  the  missionaries  to  some  special  charge,  and  bring  their 
evidence  in  support  of  that  charge  ;  otherwise  nothing  could  be  done  ; 
for  no  one  would  expect  the  missionaries  to  arraign,  try,  and  condemn 
themselves.  He  thought  the  circular  was  a  clear,  full  and  proper  decla- 
ration of  the  objects  and  operations  of  the  mission,  and  that  the  public 

24 


186  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1826. 

were  candidly  and  fairly  called  upon  to  point  out  any  mistakes,  either  in 
principle  or  conduct,  and  bear  witness  of  evil,  if  there  were  any.  He 
thought  the  gentlemen  of  the  mission  had  done  every  thing  they  could  on 
their  part,  and  that  now  the  burden  of  proof  must  lie  on  those  who  accept- 
ed the  challenge  ;  and  if  charges  should  be  proved  against  the  mission- 
aries, then  they  might  be  expected  to  answer.  On  hearing  this,  some 
one  moved  an  adjournment.  After  a  few  more  words  from  Capt.  Jones, 
the  motion  was  renewed,  and  the  meeting  broke  up.  When  about  to 
leave  the  islands,  more  than  three  weeks  afterwards,  Capt.  Jones  wrote 
an  affectionate  farewell  letter  to  the  missionaries,  in  which  he  bears  tes- 
timony to  the  good  effects  of  missionary  labors,  as  they  had  fallen  under 
his  own  observation,  both  at  the  Sandwich  and  at  the  Society  Islands ; 
says,  that  he  has  heard  of  ill  effects  of  these  labors,  but  has  not  seen  them  ; 
declares,  that  he  witnessed  the  readiness  of  the  missionaries  to  meet  an 
investigation,  and  to  answer  any  written  charges  which  could  be  suscep- 
tible of  proof  or  refutation,  and  that,  as  no  charges  derogatory  to  their 
characters  had  been  brought  forward  after  so  long  a  notice,  it  was  but 
fair  to  conclude  that  none  could  be;  and  expresses  sincere  acknowledg- 
ments for  the  kind  attention  he  had  received  from  the  missionaries  indi- 
vidually. He  concludes  by  saying,  "  If  it  should  hereafter  appear,  that 
this  visit  has,  in  however  remote  and  minute  a  degree,  contributed  to 
further  the  missionary  efforts,  I  shall  be  well  recompensed  for  the  long 
absence  from  my  family." 

The  mission  experienced  another  trial,  in  the  loss  of  Dr.  Blatchley. 
His  health  failed,  and  he  sailed  for  home  on  the  6th  of  November,  in  the 
ship  Connecticut,  Capt.  Chester.  The  captain  and  owners  declined  re- 
ceiving any  compensation  for  his  passage. 

Progress  of  the  Not wlthstauding  all  these  trials,  the  mission  prospered. 

In  January,  the  new  house  of  worship  at  Byron's  Bay,  (Hilo,) 
90  feet  by  30,  was  occupied,  and  attendance  on  public  worship  greatly 
increased.  In  April,  the  habitual  attendants  at  that  place  were  at  least 
2000.  In  January,  there  were  known  to  be  more  than  80  schools  on 
Hawaii,  with  at  least  4800  scholars.  In  April  there  was  an  examina- 
tion of  schools  at  Honolulu,  on  Oahu,  at  which  2409  scholars  attended 
from  69  schools,  in  w'hich  66  native  teachers  were  employed.  The  joint 
letter  of  the  mission,  March  10,  estimated  the  number  under  instruction 
on  all  the  islands  at  20,000,  and  stated,  that  2000  persons  were  known 
to  be  in  the  habit  of  family  and  secret  prayer.  On  Kauai,  in  April,  at- 
tendance upon  instruction  was  evidently  increasing.  Kakioewa,  the 
governor,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Whitney,  made  a  tour  round  the  island, 
earnestly  exhorting  the  people  to  attend  upon  the  instruction  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. Such  journeys  of  the  chiefs  were  frequent.  In  the  autumn, 
Kaahumanu  visited  Hawaii,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  learning  and 
religion,  and  with  good  effect. 

At  Kailua,  early  in  the  year,  the  house  of  worship  was  found  too 
small  for  the  increasing  congregation,  and  another  was  erected  by  order  of 
Kuakini,  (Gov.  Adams,)  180  feet  by  78.     At  Kowaihae,  in  November, 


1827.]  ANNUAL   MEETING   IN   NEW-YORK.  187 

Mr.  Bishop  preached  in  a  grove,  to  a  congregation  of  10,000  people. 
In  July,  an  examination  of  schools  was  held  at  Lahaina.  It  was  esti- 
mated that  there  were  then  8000  learners  in  schools  connected  with  that 
station  ;  7000  on  Maui,  and  1000  on  the  adjacent  small  islands  of  Mo- 
lokai  and  Lanai.  At  the  general  meeting  in  October,  the  number  under 
instruction  on  the  islands  was  estimated  at  25,000,  and  the  native  teach- 
ers at  400.  The  number  of  books  and  tracts  printed  since  June,  1825, 
was  74,000.  This  was  an  insufficient  supply,  but  no  more  could  be  fur- 
nished, for  want  of  paper. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


1827. — Annual  Meeting  in  New  York. — Special  efforts  to  increase  the  funds 
of  the  Board. — Bombay. — Schools  transferred  to  the  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety.— Ceylon. — Quiet  progress. — Mediterranean  missions. — Death  of  Mrs. 
Temple  ; — of  Mr.  Gridley. — Legislative  reform  in  Malta. — Mr.  Brewer  goes 
to  Constantinople,  and  then  to  Greece. — Mr.  Smith  arrives  at  Beirut. 
Church  at  Beirut  organized. — Maronite^excommunications,  and  violence  on 
Mount  Lebanon. — Battle  of  Navarino. — Indian  missions. — Missions  received 
from  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society. — Chickasaw  mission  received. 
Sandwich  Islands. — Return  of  Mr.  Loomis. — Death  of  Kalaimoku. — Admis- 
sions to  the  church. — Increase  of  schools. — Improvement  of  morals. — Third 
outrage  at  Lahaina. — Capt.  Buckle's  complaints. — Council  at  Honolulu. 
London  Quarterly  Review,  and  stories  of  voyages. — Roman  Catholic  Mis- 
sion.— Reinforcement. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  in  New  York.  It  com- 
menced on  the  10th,  and  was  continued  daily,  the  Sabbath  excepted,  to 
the  15th  of  October.  The  auditor  having  declined  re-election,  William 
Ropes,  Esq.  was  chosen  to  that  office. 

Agreeably  to  a  vote  of  last  year,  the  annual  report  was  presented  in 
a  printed  form.  It  was  thought  best,  however,  to  direct  that  henceforth 
it  be  presented  in  manuscript,  in  such  form  that  the  parts  relating  to  the 
several  missions  and  other  important  topics  may  be  submitted  to  com- 
mittees of  the  Board,  who  should  examine  them  and  report  during  the 
meeting  ;  so  that,  after  the  amendment  of  the  several  parts  if  necessa- 
ry, the  whole  might  go  to  the  public  with  the  deliberate  approbation  of 
the  Board.     This  plan  has  ever  since  been  followed. 

The  income  of  the  Board  from  donations,  for  the  year  ending  August 
31,  had  been  $'82,435,25  ;  the  expenditures,  $104,430,30.  Towards 
meeting  the  deficiency,  a  debt  had  been  incurred  of  $15,513,10. 

This  meeting  derived  its  principal  interest  from  the  effort  made  to 
increase  the  funds  of  the  Board.  Many  promising  fields  for  missionary 
labor  had  been  found,  where  no  missions  had  yet  been  planted  ;  and 
several  of  the  existing  missions  were  calling  loudly  for  reinforcements  j 


?^ 


188  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

but  only  a  small  part  of  these  calls  could  be  met,  for  want  of  funds, 
which  the  churches  were  evidently  able,  if  disposed,  to  furnish.  An  ef- 
fort by  which  the  funds  of  the  Board  should  be  greatly  increased,  and 
that  without  delay,  had  been  a  subject  of  serious  thought,  conversation 
and  correspondence,  for  some  months.  Among  the  most  ardent  and  in- 
fluential friends  of  this  project — if  he  may  not  be  called  its  author — was 
Mr.  Josiah  Bissell,  an  enterprising  merchant  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  He 
attended  the  meeting  as  an  honorary  member ;  and  by  his  fervid  and  im- 
pressive eloquence,  did  much  to  produce  the  state  of  feeling  with  which 
it  closed.  Dr.  Beecher's  sermon  was  one  of  his  most  powerful  and  suc- 
cessful efforts.  The  various  parts  of  the  work  in  which  the  Board  was 
engaged,  as  they  came  under  review  in  the  course  of  business,  excited 
a  lively  interest.  A  meeting  of  frient's  of  the  Board  was  appointed  to 
be  held  on  Monday  evening,  October  15,  and  the  members  were  invited 
to  attend.  Zechariah  Lewis,  Esq.  was  chairman,  and  Eleazar  Lord, 
Esq.  clerk.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  gave  a  statement  of  the  fields 
for  missionary  labor  open  to  the  Board,  which  it  would  require  an  ad- 
ditional expenditure  of  ^100,000  annually  to  occupy  ;  the  Rev.  Jonas 
King,  lately  from  the  East,  described  many  of  them,  from  his  own  per- 
sonal knowledge  ;  and  Dr.  Beecher  urged  the  duty  of  efforts  in  propor- 
tion to  the  wants  of  the  heathen  and  the  opportunities  for  doing  them 
good.  Dr.  McAuley,  Mr.  Bissell  and  others  spoke  with  overwhelming 
force  and  pathos.  Subscription  papers  were  then  circulated,  on  which 
$25,675  were  subscribed,  payable  annually  for  five  years,  on  condition 
that  the  amount  be  raised  to  $100,000  annually,  and  all  but  S 5,000 
payable,  for  once,  within  twelve  months,  unconditionally.  Ofthissura, 
one  gentleman  in  New  York  city  subscribed  $5,000.  Mr.  Bissell  sub- 
scribed $10,000  for  himself  and  friends  in  Western  New  York.  Many 
gentlemen,  from  distant  places,  who  subscribed  nothing,  pledged  them- 
selves to  raise  increased  amounts  in  the  places  of  their  residence.  Wheth- 
er this  movement,  in  the  end,  did  more  good  or  harm,  is  a  question  not 
easily  settled,  and  on  which  there  will  be  different  opinions.  That  it  did 
much  of  both,  is  undeniable.  The  attempt  to  raise  $100,000  annually 
was  a  failure.  A  large  part,  even  of  the  sum  pledged  unconditionally 
for  the  first  year,  was  never  received.  Many  persons,  in  different  places, 
felt  that  they  had  been  pressed  too  hard, — had  been  borne  down  by  elo- 
quence and  importunity,  and  not  allowed  to  judge  for  themselves  of  their 
own  duty,  and  were  thus  rendered  less  accessible  to  future  applications. 
In  short,  there  was  a  "re-action,"  and  its  evils  were  long  and  seriously 
felt.  On  the  other  hand,  new  ideas  of  Christian  liberality  were  made  to 
enter  many  minds.  Not  a  few  rich  men  have,  since  that  time,  given  in 
juster  proportion  to  their  wealth  than  formerly.  The  evils  of  the  re- 
action were  temporary,  and  we  may  hope  are  past ;  while  the  good  in- 
fluence of  larger  views  and  a  juster  apprehension  of  the  right  use  of 
wealth  remains,  and  will  do  good  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
Bombay  Mission.  Thc  Rcv.  Cyrus  Stone  and  David  0.  Allen,  with  their 

wives,  and  Miss  Cynthia  Farrar,  embarked  at  Boston,  on  the  6th  of  June, 


1827.]  PROGRESS  AT   CEYLON.      MALTA.      WESTERN   ASIA.  189 

to  join  this  mission.     Mr.  Allen  and  wife  arrived  on  the  27th  of  Novem- 
ber, having  left  their  companions  at  Calcutta. 

The  various  departments  of  missionary  labor  had  been  carried  on  as 
usual,  so  far  as  the  reduced  strength  of  the  mission  would  permit.  Sev- 
eral of  the  free  schools  for  boys  were  surrendered  to  the  care  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Mitchell,  who  was  laboring  in  the  service  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  at  Tannah.  The  number  retained  under  the  care  of  the  mission 
was  26,  — 16  for  boys  and  10  for  girls.  A  female  teacher  of  one  of  the 
girls'  schools  died  near  the  close  of  the  year,  giving  some  evidence  of 
piety. 

At  Ceylon,  this  was  a  year  of  quiet  and  silent  progress.  I'rogress  at  ceyio,,. 
The  additions  to  the  church  were  eleven.  About  2000  hearers  usually 
attended  worship  at  four  stations  on  Sabbath  morning.  At  the  close  of 
the  year,  there  were  93  free  schools,  containing  3378  boys  and  942  girls. 
The  number  of  students  in  the  Seminary  at  Batticotta  was  67,  of  whom 
24  were  members  of  the  church,  and  others  were  apparently  pious.  In 
the  instruction  of  the  school,  Mr.  Poor  was  assisted  by  Gabriel  Tissera 
and  ten  other  natives.  It  was  fast  rising  in  reputation,  and  some  of  the 
more  learned  Brahmuns  occasionally  resorted  to  it  for  instruction  in  the 
higher  departments  of  Tamul  literature.  Some  difficulty  was  found  in 
keeping  the  pupils  till  they  had  completed  their  full  course  of  study, 
owing  to  the  high  w^ages  offered  for  their  services.  The  whole  number 
under  instruction  in  all  the  schools,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  was  4,500. 

At  Malta,  Mrs.  Temple  closed  a  useful  life  by  a  happy  M«i'a- 

death,  on  the  16th  of  January.     She  was  soon  followed  by  her  infant 
child. 

In  November,  the  mission  had  published  since  its  commencement, 
62  books  and  tracts  in  Modern  Greek,  43  in  Italian,  and  one  in  Greco- 
Turkish  ;  in  all,  106,  averaging  more  than  40  pages  each.  Of  several, 
second  and  third  editions  had  been  issued.  Something  was  done  in  the 
way  of  preaching  and  Sabbath  Schools.  The  missionaries  of  several 
English  Societies  were  at  work,  and  the  wrath  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
w^as  greatly  excited.  At  several  times,  men  undertook  to  assassinate 
Mr.  Keeling,  a  Wesleyan  missionary,  on  one  of  his  usual  walks;  and 
the  doors  of  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  were  set  open,  on  purpose  to 
favor  their  escape;  for  those  churches  were  privileged  places,  over 
which  the  Romish  priesthood  claimed  exclusive  jurisdiction,  and  in  which 
no  person  could  be  arrested  by  the  civil  government.  The  priests,  too, 
claimed  the  right  of  being  tried  for  any  crime  whatever,  only  by  their 
own  ecclesiastical  superiors,  there  and  at  Rome.  The  British  govern- 
ment now  abolished  these  privileges;  so  that  criminals  could  hence- 
forth be  arrested  even  in  the  churches,  and  priests  must  answer  for  their 
crimes,  like  other  men,  before  the  civil  courts.  Of  course,  there  was  a 
great  improvement  in  morals,  and  in  personal  safety. 

Mr.  Gridley,  having  spent  the  winter  and  spring  at  wesiem  Asia.  Death 
Smyrna,  went,  in  June,  to  Kaisarea  in  Cappadocia,  about  "'''•  ^ '""'>' 
400  miles  east  of  Smyrna,  where  he  hoped  for  better  advantages  in  bis 


190  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

present  studies,  and  to  gain  important  information  concerning  the  Greeks 
in  the  interior  of  Asiatic  Turkey.  His  health  was  improved  by  his 
journey  of  21  days  on  horseback,  but  afterwards  suffered  from  excessive 
labor  and  study.  On  the  13th  of  September  he  ascended  Mount  Ar- 
geus,  near  which  the  city  is  situated.  This  mountain  is  13,000  feet 
high,  and  Strabo  asserts  that,  in  a  clear  day,  the  Black  Sea  and  the 
Mediterranean  can  both  be  seen  from  its  summit.  Of  the  whole  com- 
pany of  seven,  he  alone  reached  the  summit,  from  which  he  returned  in 
a  state  of  extreme  exhaustion.  This  effort  brought  on  a  fever,  which 
proved  fatal  on  the  15th  day  from  the  ascent  of  the  mountain.  His  fu- 
neral was  attended  by  many  of  the  Greeks,  who  had  learned,  as  had 
many  at  Smyrna,  to  respect  his  talents  and  virtues.  Even  before  he  left 
Smyrna,  he  had  become  able  to  preach  acceptably  in  Modern  Greek. 
Mr,  Brewer's  move-  Mr.  Brcwcr  left  Smyma,  on  the  22d  of  January,  for 
"*""  Constantinople,  where  he  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  He- 

brew-Spanish language ;  that  is,  the  Spanish  in  Hebrew  characters.  His 
teacher  failed  to  fulfil  his  engagement ;  and  the  prospect  of  gaining  access 
to  the  Jews  appearing  less  favorable  than  he  had  expected,  he  turned  his 
attention  for  awhile  to  the  Turkish,  and  then  to  the  Modern  Greek. 
Political  affairs  growing  more  unsettled,  he  left  Constantinople  in  Sep- 
tember for  Greece,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  deposits  of  Bibles  and 
tracts,  distributing  the  Scriptures,  and  gaining  information.  Having 
visited  several  of  the  Greek  islands,  he  went  to  Smyrna  in  Novem- 
ber, and,  in  December  sailed  for  Malta,  where  he  procured  a  quantity 
of  books  and  tracts,  to  be  distributed  during  the  ensuing  year. 
Beiru..  Mr.  Smuh  Mr.  Smith  left  Alexandria  on  the  30th  of  January,  and, 
""""■  after  a  journey  of  20  days,  through  the  desert  to  Jaffa  and 

thence  by  sea,  arrived  at  Beirut.  He  was  accompanied  by  three  Ger- 
man missionaries  in  the  service  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society ;  Mr. 
Mueller,  destined  to  Egypt,  and  Messrs.  Gobat  and  Kugler,  missionaries 
to  Abyssinia.  Another  of  the  company  was  Girgis,  (George,)  an  Abys- 
sinian, who  had  visited  Egypt  on  ecclesiastical  business,  and  whose  in- 
telligence and  apparent  piety  deeply  interested  all  who  saw  him ;  but 
concerning  whose  real  character  and  subsequent  career,  reports  are  con- 
tradictory, and  nothing  is  certainly  known.  While  he  was  at  Beirut,  the 
Monthly  Concert  in  March  was  kept  as  a  day  of  fasting,  and  closed 
with  the  Lord's  Supper.  Sixteen  persons  were  present,  all  regarded  as 
pious.  They  were  from  America,  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa;  members 
of  Congregational,  Episcopal,  Lutheran,  Lutheran  Reformed,  Moravian, 
Latin,  Armenian,  Greek  Catholic,  and  Abyssinian  churches.  Americans, 
Armenians,  English  and  Germans,  took  part  in  the  exercises. 
Admissions  lo  the  At  Bclrut,  on  thc  2d  day  of  January,  Dionysius  Cara- 
v;hurch.  |jg|.  ^^^  Gregory  Wortabet,  Armenians,  and  "  an  European 

lady  of  distinction  and  intelligence,  a  member  of  the  Latin  Church," 
were  solemnly  received  to  the  communion  and  fellowship  of  the  mission 
church.  This  lady  was  a  native  of  Tuscany,  and  wife  of  Peter  Abbott, 
Esq.,  the  English  Consul.     Besides  these,  there  were  others,  Armenians, 


1827.]  PERSECUTION.      MARONITE   EXCOMMUNICATIONS.  191 

Maronites,  Greeks  and  Greek  Catholics,  making  in  all  about  twenty, 
"  whose  hearts,"  says  Mr.  Goodell,  "  we  hope,  have  been  moved  by  an 
influence  more  than  earthly,"  and  some  of  whom,  it  was  confidently 
hoped,  had  indeed  been  born  again ;  "  besides  many  others,  who  appear 
to  be  rationally  convinced  that  the  Bible  is  right,  and  that  they  are 
wrong."  At  the  Monthly  Concert  in  February,  the  wives  of  Carabet 
and  Wortabet  were  admitted  to  the  church. 

This  gathering  of  the  converts  into  a  new  church  was  Persec»iion. 

an  important  event.  It  announced  distinctly,  that,  so  far  as  the  mission 
should  be  successful,  existing  ecclesiastical  relations  were  to  be  broken 
up,  and  the  existing  churches  destroyed.  So  it  was  evidently  under- 
stood. The  danger  of  reform  had  roused  those  churches  to  violent  per- 
secution, and  this  undisguised  threat  of  destruction  greatly  increased  its 
fury.  On  the  14th  of  January,  the  decree  of  excommunication  by  the 
Maronite  Patriarch,  dated  December  15,  was  read  with  great  vehe- 
mence, and  with  many  extempore  additions,  in  the  Maronite  church  at 
Beirut.  The  patriarch  stated  that  the  missionaries  "  are  unwearied  in 
their  efforts  ;"  that  "  they  go  about  manifesting  a  zeal  in  compassionat- 
ing their  neighbors ;"  that  "  they  have  opened  schools  and  supplied 
instructers,  all  at  their  own  expense ;"  that  "  in  their  outward  works 
they  appear  as  men  of  piety  ;"  and  that  "  the  evil  grows  every  day." 
He  strictly  forbade  all  connection  with  them,  in  buying  or  selling,  bor- 
rowing or  lending,  giving  or  receiving,  attending  schools  or  teaching, 
laboring  for  hire,  or  rendering  any  other  service,  on  pain  of  loss  of  office 
if  the  offender  be  a  priest,  and  of  the  great  excommunication  if  a  layman, 
the  power  of  absolution  being  reserved  to  the  patriarch  alone.  On  the 
28th,  additional  threats  were  uttered  in  the  same  church  ;  and  the  agent 
of  the  Greek  church  read  a  new  and  severe  prohibition  against  all  who 
should  be  in  habits  of  intimacy  with  the  mission. 

These  severe  proceedings  increased  the  general  curiosity  concerning 
the  mission.  Visitors  were  multiplied,  and  the  brethren  coidd  do  little 
but  explain  their  doctrines  and  motives  from  morning  till  night.  But 
the  schools  suffered.  Parents  dared  not  send  their  children.  One 
teacher  after  another  received  positive  orders  to  discontinue  his  school, 
and  was  forced  to  comply,  till,  some  time  before  the  close  of  the  year, 
not  one  was  left.  Serious  inquirers  were  constantly  harassed  with 
threats,  false  accusations,  arbitrary  taxes,  and  petty  annoyances,  till 
some  of  them  discontinued  their  visits,  and  others  were  deterred  from 
approaching  the  mission.  For  several  ruonlhs,  their  labors  were  inter- 
rupted by  the  prevalence  of  the  plague  around  them. 

Mr.  Bird  wished  to  spend  a  part  of  the  hot  season  on  m,.  um  on  Muum 
the  mountains,  with  his  family,  for  the  sake  of  health. 
He,  therefore,  accepted  the  invitation  of  Sheikh  Naami  Latuf,  to  spend 
the  time  at  his  father's,  at  Ehden,  near  Kanobin.  Naami  had  appeared 
to  be  a  stanch  friend  of  the  missionaries,  and  had  refused  to  leave  their 
society  at  the  command  of  his  priest.  Some  hope  was  oven  enteitained 
of  his  piety.     Having  obtained  iiom  the  Emir  Beshir  an  order  for  pro- 


192  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

tection,  he  set  forth,  and  arrived  in  company  with  Naami,  on  the  3d  of 
August.  Towards  evening,  the  next  day,  a  priest  came  to  the  house, 
and  looking  in  at  a  window,  read  a  proclamation,  signed  by  "  the  Igno- 
ble Joseph  Peter,  Patriarch  of  Antioch  and  all  the  east,"  excommunicat- 
ing the  whole  family  for  receiving  "  that  deceived  man  and  deceiver  of 
men.  Bird,  the  Bible  man ;"  declaring,  that  "  They  are,  therefore, 
accursed,  cut  off  from  all  Christian  communion ;  and  let  the  curse  en- 
velop them  as  a  robe,  and  spread  through  all  their  members  like  oil, 
and  break  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel,  and  wither  them  like  the 
fig  tree  cursed  by  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  himself:  and  let  the  evil  angel 
rule  over  them,  to  torment  them  day  and  night,  asleep  and  awake,  and 
in  whatever  circumstances  they  may  be  found.  We  permit  no  one  to 
visit  them,  or  employ  them,  or  do  them  a  favor,  or  give  them  a  saluta- 
tion, or  converse  with  them  in  any  form :  but  let  them  be  avoided  as  a 
putrid  member,  and  as  hellish  dragons.  Beware,  yea,  beware  of  the 
wrath  of  God." 

In  a  few  moments  an  attack  was  made  by  some  followers  of  a  rival 
sheikh,  in  which  Latuf  received  a  severe  wound  upon  his  head,  and  his 
wife's  mother  had  her  wrist  broken.  On  the  Sabbath,  a  letter  was  re- 
ceived from  the  patriarch,  commanding  the  people  to  persecute  the  Bible 
man  from  the  place,  even  though  it  should  be  necessary  to  kill  him.  Mr. 
Bird,  therefore,  left  the  house  of  Latuf  on  Monday,  with  asingle  attendant, 
and  retired  to  Tripolis.  He  soon  obtained  leave  of  Sheikh  Muharamed 
to  reside  at  Bahweita,  where  his  wife  and  children  joined  him,  after  a 
separation  of  ten  days.  Excommunications  from  Kanobin  followed  him 
here,  but  produced  little  effect.  It  was  said  that  Joseph  Latuf,  a  brother 
of  Naami,  had  been  the  cause  of  much  infidelity  :  that  is,  had  weakened 
the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  priesthood.  The  elder  Latuf  visited 
the  patriarch  to  obtain  reconciliation.  Naami  was  summoned,  but  took 
his  own  time  to  go,  and  when  there,  made  no  concessions.  He  boldly 
defended  the  missionaries,  and  denied  the  truth  of  the  patriarch's  procla- 
mations. When  the  patriarch  threatened  him  with  the  fate  of  Asaad 
Shidiak,  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  sword,  and  defied  his  power. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  intelligence  was  received  of  the  battle  at 
Navarino,  in  which  the  Turkish  and  Egyptian  fleets  were  destroyed  by 
the  combined  fleets  of  England,  France,  and  Russia.  It  was  supposed 
that  war  would  immediately  follow,  if  it  had  not  already  commenced  ; 
that  the  fury  of  the  Turks  would  know  no  bounds;  and  that  persons 
under  English  protection,  instead  of  being  safe,  would  be  marked  for 
destruction.  The  English  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  and  Commo- 
dore Downes,  commanding  the  American  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean, 
had  been  applied  to,  and  had  promised  protection  in  case  of  need ;  but 
there  was  not  time  for  them  to  afford  assistance.  The  mission  families 
fled  in  the  night  to  Mansiiriyeh,  a  Greek  village  6  or  7  miles  distant, 
where  they  took  refuge  in  the  country  seat  of  the  English  Consul. 
Learning,  soon  after,  that  war  would  probably  be  averted,  they  returned 
to  Beirut,  where  they  dwelt  undisturbed  to  the  close  of  the  year. 


1827.]  INDIAN  MISSIONS.  193 

Among  the  Cherokees,  there  were  seven  missionary  Indian  Missions. 
stations,  suppUed  by  34  missionaries  and  assistants.  This  was  a  year  of 
moderate  progress,  with  no  remarkable  changes.  The  schools  were  gen- 
erally successful.  There  was  some  special  seriousness,  and  some  were 
added  to  the  churches,  at  several  of  the  stations.  The  itinerant  labors 
of  Mr.  Chamberlain  and  John  Huss  were  attended  with  some  instances 
of  conversion. 

The  Choctaw  mission  comprised  eleven  stations,  and  35  laborers. 
The  farm  at  Elliot  was  managed  with  singular  energy  and  success,  so 
that  the  station  more  than  supported  itself.  At  Mayhew,  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  manifest  during  the  winter  and  spring.  In  June, 
nine  persons,  two  of  whom  were  native  girls  belonging  to  the  schools, 
were  received  into  the  church,  and  there  were  other  candidates  for  ad- 
mission. There  were  also  seasons  of  unusual  seriousness  at  Elliot,  at 
Goshen,  and  at  Ai-ik-hunnuh.  Mr.  Byington  and  Mr.  Wright  spent  a  great 
part  of  the  year  in  preparing  school-books  in  the  Choctaw  language,  in 
which  they  had  the  assistance  of  Israel  Folsom,  who  had  been  educated 
at  Cornwall,  and  some  of  the  best  native  interpreters.  The  books  were 
printed,  during  the  summer,  at  Cincinnati. 

Dwight  was  the  only  station  among  the  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas. 
Here  were  16  missionaries  and  assistants.  The  people  anxiously  re- 
quested two  more  schools,  and  an  increase  of  preaching,  beyond  the 
ability  of  the  mission  to  supply.  Several  instances  of  conversion 
occurred,  and  the  morals  of  the  people  were  evidently  improving. 

The  seven  missions  next  to  be  noticed,  were  received  from  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

OsAGES  OF  THE  Neosho.  Two  Stations,  with  14  missionaries  and  as- 
sistants. 

1.  Union.  Commencenced  in  1820.  Rev.  William  F.  Vaill,  super- 
intendent ;  Dr.  Marcus  Palmer,  licensed  preacher  and  physician ;  Mr. 
Abraham  Redfield,  carpenter  ;  Mr.  Alexander  Woodruff,  blacksmith; 
their  wives ;  Mr.  George  Requa,  steward  ;  Mr.  George  Douglass,  farmer ; 
Miss  Elizabeth  Selden.  This  station  was  about  150  miles  northwest 
from  Dwight,  on  the  Neosho,  or  Grand  River,  which  enters  the  Arkansas 
from  the  north.  The  Osages  were  more  uncivilized  than  any  other  na- 
tives among  whom  missions  had  been  attempted ;  without  fixed  habita- 
tions, subsisting  almost  wholly  by  the  chase,  and  having  no  idea  of  one 
Great  Spirit  who  made  or  governs  all  things.  Scarce  any  of  the  com- 
forts of  civilization,  or  even  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  could  be  obtained 
amongst  them.  Somewhat  extensive  farming  operations  were  therefore 
indispensable.  After  excessive  labor  and  privations,  about  140  acres  of 
land  had  been  subdued  by  the  plough,  the  produce  of  which,  in  1825, 
was  900  bushels  of  wheat,  and  1600  of  corn.  By  unprecedented  floods 
in  1826,  fences  had  been  swept  away,  corn-fields  ruined,  and  property 
destroyed  to  the  amount  of  $2000.  The  school  had  numbered  50  pu- 
pils ;  but  fear  of  invasion  from  the  neighboring  tribes,  in  1826,  drove 

25 


194  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

the  greater  part  of  the  people  to  the  prairies,  and  the  number  was  re- 
duced to  20.     In  July  of  this  year,  it  had  again  risen  to  40. 

2.  Hopefield.  1823.  Rev.  William  B.  Montgomery ;  Mr.  William 
C.  Requa,  farmer ;  Mrs.  Requa.  This  was  a  small  farming  establish- 
ment, about  four  miles  from  Union,  designed  to  show  the  Osages  the 
benefits  of  agriculture  when  conducted  by  their  own  people.  Eleven 
Osage  families  took  up  their  residence  here  in  1824,  and,  in  August, 
carried  their  disposable  produce  about  25  miles  to  Fort  Gibson,  for  sale. 
The  next  year,  the  number  of  families  was  15,  containing  91  souls. 
In  1826,  they  were  in  constant  terror  for  fear  of  war,  and  sometimes  fled 
to  Union,  rushed  into  the  mission  houses,  ran  up  stairs,  and  crept  under 
beds  for  safety ;  for  savage  ferocity  and  apparent  apathy  under  sufferings 
that  are  manifestly  inevitable,  are  no  proofs  of  habitual  courage.  This 
settlement  was  nearly  ruined  by  the  floods  of  1826,  when  the  settlers 
were  reduced  to  extreme  suffering  for  want  of  food ;  but  in  the  spring 
of  1827  they  resumed  their  labors  with  alacrity,  and  with  good  prospects 
of  success. 

OsAGES  OF  THE  MISSOURI.  This  mission  had  13  members,  at  two  sta- 
tions. 

1.  Harmony.  1821.  Rev.  Nathaniel  B.  Dodge,  superintendent; 
Mr.  Amasa  Jones,  teacher  and  licensed  preacher ;  Mr.  Daniel  H.  Austin, 
carpenter;  Mr.  Samuel  B.  Bright,  farmer;  their  wives;  Mr.  Richard 
Colby,  blacksmith;  Miss  Mary  Etris;  Miss  Harriet  Woolley.  This 
station  was  about  150  miles  north  from  Union.  From  the  unpromising 
character  of  the  Osages,  the  want  of  union  and  good  management  in  the 
mission  family,  the  great  expense  in  proportion  to  the  good  effected,  and 
the  amount  of  sickness  and  suflfering,  several  families  had  become  dis- 
couraged, and  left  the  mission  about  the  time  of  its  transfer  to  the  Board. 
In  1824,  the  farm  produced  460  bushels  of  wheat  and  1600  of  corn. 
The  school  now  contained  35  children,  25  of  whom  could  read  the  word 
of  God.  From  ignorance  of  the  language  and  want  of  interpreters, 
httle  had  been  done  in  the  way  of  preaching  the  gospel. 

2.  JYeosho.  1824.  Rev.  Benton  Pixley,  and  his  wife.  This  station 
was  situated  about  60  miles  from  Harmony,  and  100  from  Union,  nearly 
in  a  direct  line  between  them.  Having  obtained  some  knowledge  of 
the  language,  Mr.  Pixley  removed  to  this  place,  that,  unincumbered  with 
other  cares,  he  might  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  Osages.  He  had  acquired  much  knowledge  of  their  charac- 
ter, habits  and  customs,  and  in  some  degree  gained  their  confidence ; 
but  no  religious  impression  had  yet  been  made. 

Mackinaw.  1823.  Rev.  William  M.Ferry,  superintendent;  Mr. 
Martin  Heydenburk,  teacher;  Mr.  John  S.  Hudson,  teacher  and  farmer; 
their  wives;*  Miss  Eunice  Osmar;  Miss  Elizabeth  McFarland;  Miss 
Deha  Cook.     This  station  was  on  the  island  of  Mackinaw,  in  the  strait 

*  Mrs.  Heydenburk  was  not  formally  appointed  till  the  next  year. 


196 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1827. 


Mackinaw. 


between  lakes  Huron  and  Michigan,  about  350  miles  from  Detroit.  This 
island  was  the  centre  of  operations  for  the  American  Fur  Company,  and 
a  common  rendezvous  for  various  Indian  tribes,  scattered  from  the  great 
lakes  and  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi  to  Hudson's  Bay  and  lake 
Athabasca.  It  had  long  been  a  common,  though  not  a  universal  prac- 
tice, among  the  many  traders,  clerks  and  other  whites  in  this  whole  re- 
gion, to  live  with  Indian  women,  either  as  wives  or  concubines,  and  to 
desert  them  and  their  children  on  returning  to  civilized  life.  This  prac- 
tice was  introduced  while  the  French  held  possession  of  Canada,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  half-breeds  were  still  of  French  descent.  They 
and  many  of  the  Indians  were  nominally  Roman  Catholics,  but  were 
almost  entirely  ignorant  of  Christianity.  Those  of  mixed  blood  were 
generally  more  intelligent,  and  possessed  more  influence,  than  the  un- 
mixed Indians.  French  priests  occasionally  visited  the  region,  and 
opposed  the  mission  to  the  extent  of  their  power.  In  August  of  this 
year,  there  were  112  scholars  in  the  boarding  school,  and  there  had 
been  several  interesting  cases  of  conversion.  The  children  were  col- 
lected from  the  whole  region  extending  from  the  white  settlements 
south  of  the  great  lakes  to  Red  River  and  lake  Athabasca. 

Maumee.  Mr.  Isaac  Van  Tassel,  teacher  and  licensed  preacher,  and 
his  wife.  Mr.  Leander  Sackett,  farmer,  left  the  mission  in  August,  on 
account  of  a  disagreement  with  the  other  members.  This  mission  was 
situated  in  the  northwest  part  of  Ohio,  on  the  Maumee  River,  about  30 
miles  from  its  mouth.  In  October,  1826,  the  school  contained  32  pupils, 
from  five  neighboring  tribes.  Six  gave  evidence  of  piety.  The  num- 
ber of  pupils  at  the  end  of  this  year  was  16. 

TuscARORA  Mission.     Mr.  John  Elliot,  teacher.     The  site  of  this 


1827.]  CHICKASAW  MISSION   RECEIVED.  197 

mission  was  3  or  4  miles  east  of  the  Niagara  river,  at  Lewistown,  N.  Y., 
among  200  or  300  Tuscaroras,  living  on  a  reservation  of  2000  acres. 
A  church  had  been  organized  some  j-ears  since,  and  now  contained  15 
members.     The  school  had  between  30  and  40  pupils. 

Seneca  Mission.  Rev.  Thompson  S.  Harris,  superintendent ;  Mrs. 
Harris;  Mr.  Hanover  Bradley,  steward  and  farmer;  Miss  Asenath 
Bishop,  Miss  Mary  Henderson,  Miss  Phebe  Selden,  teachers  and  assist- 
ants. This  mission  was  situated  about  4  miles  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  on 
a  reservation  of  83,557  acres,  inhabited  by  686  Indians  of  the  Seneca, 
Cayuga  and  Onondaga  tribes.  The  school  contained  45  children.  Six 
natives,  recently  converted,  were  added  to  the  church  in  May,  and  ten 
others  during  the  summer,  making  the  whole  number  30. 

Cattaraugus  Mission  ;  30  miles  south  of  Buffalo,  on  a  reservation  of 
26,880  acres, having  between  300  and  400  inhabitants.  Mr.  Wilham  A. 
Thayer,  teacher,  and  his  wife,  constituted  the  mission.  From  various 
causes  of  temporary  influence,  the  school  had  declined,  so  that  the  average 
attendance  this  summer  was  not  more  than  12.  In  spiritual  things,  the 
mission  was  prosperous.  A  church  was  organized  in  July,  with  12  na- 
tive members,  recently  converted.  Ten  or  twelve  others  were  thought 
to  give  evidence  of  piety. 

Chickasaw  Mission.  In  1821,  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Synod  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  established  a  mission  among  the  Chickasaws, 
a  numerous  tribe  oflnd.ans  whose  territory  lay  immediately  south  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee.  During  the  summer  of  this  year,  1827,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  WiUiam  A.  McDowell  visited  Boston,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating 
a  transfer  of  this  mission  to  the  Board.  The  subject  was  brought  before 
the  Board  at  its  annual  meeting  in  October,  and  a  resolution  was  passed, 
authorizing  the  Prudential  Committee  to  receive  the  mission,  on  such 
terms  as  they  should  think  reasonable.  On  the  27th  of  November,  the 
Committee  voted  to  receive  the  mission,  on  condition  that  it  should  be 
free  from  debt  ;  that  its  property  should  be  delivered  to  the  Board  ;  that 
the  missionaries  should  be  retained  if  agreeable  to  themselves ;  and  that 
the  Board  should  be  recommended  to  the  patronage  of  the  churches  under 
the  care  of  the  Synod.  Mr.  David  Greene,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
employed  in  the  Secretary's  department  at  the  Missionary  Rooms,  and 
who  was  now  going  on  a  visit  to  the  Indian  missions,  was  appointed  to 
attend  to  the  remaining  formalities  of  the  transfer.  Mr.  Greene  attend- 
ed the  meeting  of  the  Synod  at  Charleston.  On  the  14th  of  December, 
the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Synod  transferred  its  "  foreign  missions" 
to  the  Board,  and  the  Synod  passed  resolutions,  approving  the  transfer, 
recommending  the  Board  to  the  patronage  of  the  churches,  and  pledging 
their  own  co-operation  with  the  Board  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions. 

To  this  mission  belonged  four  stations,  and  twelve  members. 

1.  Monroe.  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Stewart,  superintendent  of  the  Chick- 
asaw mission  ;  Mr.  Samuel  C.  Pearson,  farmer;  and  their  wives.  Mr. 
Stewart  arrived  at  this  station,  January  31,  1821,  and  the  school  was 
opened  in  May,  1822.     At  the  time  of  the  transfer,  nearly  100  acres  of 


198  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

land  were  under  cultivation,  and  the  property  of  the  station  was  estima- 
ted at  $3,870.  The  church  was  formed  in  June,  1823,  comprising  the 
seven  members  then  belonging  to  the  mission  family,  and  one  black 
woman,  the  first  fruit  of  their  labors.  Four  converts  were  added  in  1824, 
5  in  1825,  6  in  1826,  and  26  in  1827;  making  42  converts  added  since 
its  formation.  A  large  majority  of  these  were  of  African  descent,  and 
several  were  white. 

2.  Tokshish.  1825.  Mr.  James  Holmes,  teacher  and  catechist  ; 
Mrs.  Holmes ;  Miss  Emeline  H.  Richmond,  teacher.  This  station  was 
but  two  miles  from  Monroe,  and  its  members  and  converts  belonged  to  the 
same  church.  It  had  a  small  school,  composed  mostly  of  small  girls, 
under  the  care  of  Miss  Richmond,  and  a  farm  of  about  30  acres,  cultivated 
by  hired  labor. 

3.  Martyn.  1825.  Rev.  William  C.  Blair,  and  his  wife.  Here 
was  a  farm  of  about  30  acres  of  good  land,  and  a  school,  commenced 
in  August,  1826,  containing  24  pupils.  There  had  been  four  or  five  in- 
stances of  conversion. 

4.  Caney  Creek.  1826.  Rev.  Hugh  Wilson  ;  Mrs.  Wilson  ;  Miss 
Prudence  Wilson.  The  school  was  opened  in  January,  1827.  As  this 
station  was  some  40  miles  from  any  considerable  settlement  of  the  Chick- 
asaws,  it  afforded  little  opportunity  for  preaching  the  gospel,  but  was 
the  better  fitted  for  a  boarding  school,  as  it  removed  the  children  more 
effectually  from  the  influence  of  their  heathen  relatives. 

In  a  treaty  made  some  years  previously,  it  had  been  stipulated  that 
the  United  States  should  pay  $4,500  for  erecting  buildings  and  opening 
farms  for  two  schools,  at  such  places  as  the  Chickasaws  should  select,  and 
$2,500  annually  for  the  support  of  the  schools,  Martyn  and  Caney 
Creek  were  the  places  selected.  Their  superintendence  was  committed 
by  the  Chickasaws  to  Mr.  Stewart,  who  was  held  responsible  for  the 
character  of  the  teachers  and  success  of  the  schools.  It  was  stipulated  that 
25  children  should  be  boarded  at  Caney  Creek,  on  account  of  the  annuity. 

On  the  12th  of  November,  the  missionaries  beyond  the  Mississippi 
formed  themselves  into  a  Presbytery,  to  be  under  the  care  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States. 
Sandwich  Islands.  Mr.  Loomis  fouud  his  health  failing  under  the  influence 

Deaih  of  Kaiaimoku.  ^f  j.]^g  climatc  ;  and  with  the  approbation  of  his  brethren, 
sailed  for  the  United  States  on  the  6th  of  January.  He  brought  with 
him  the  means  of  printing  Hawaiian  books,  of  which  many  thousands  of 
copies  were  afterwards  executed  under  his  superintendence,  and  sent  to 
the  islands.  In  the  same  month,  the  regent  Kalaimoku,  whom  foreign- 
ers had  called  Billy  Pitt,  and  whom  the  natives  regarded  as  "  the  iron 
cable"  of  their  country,  anticipating  his  approaching  dissolution  from  the 
progress  of  the  dropsy,  sailed  from  Honolulu,  and  touching  at  Lahaina, 
where  he  witnessed  the  reception  of  the  young  princess  into  the  church, 
arrived  at  Hawaii,  where  he  wished  to  die.  Here,  under  an  unsuccess- 
ful operation  for  his  disease,  he  fainted,  and  survived  but  a  few'  hours. 
His  mind,  to  the  last,  appeared  to  be  steadfast  in  the  faith  and  hope  of 


1827.]  OUTRAGE  AT  LAHAINA.  199 

the  gospel.  "  The  world,"  he  said,  "  is  full  of  sorrows  ;  but  in  heaven 
there  is  no  sorrow  nor  pain  : — it  is  good — it  is  light — it  is  happy."  The 
evidence  of  his  preparation  for  death  was  most  satisfactory  to  those  who 
knew  him  ;  and  he  left  his  parting  advice  to  his  people  in  writing,  ex- 
horting them  to  walk  in  the  same  way. 

During  this  year,  six  natives  were  received  as  members  The  church  and 
of  the  church  at  Lahaina,  six  at  Honolulu,  and  one  at  Wai-  **'''""''' 
mea,  making  the  whole  number  of  native  members  23.  Ten  of  these 
were  among  the  highest  chiefs  of  the  islands,  and  other  chiefs  stood  pro- 
pounded for  admission.  Congregations  on  the  Sabbath  were  large. 
At  Honolulu,  at  Kailua,  at  Kaawaloa,  2000  hearers  were  often  present 
on  Sabbath  morning,  and  sometimes  the  number  amounted  to  5000. 
Except  at  Honolulu,  where  the  opposition  of  foreign  residents  caused 
some  decline,  the  number  both  of  schools  and  of  learners  increased  great- 
ly. The  press  was  kept  busily  employed  ;  printed  books  were  eagerly 
sought,  and  some  of  them  were  copied  by  natives  and  extensively  circu- 
lated in  manuscript.  Frequent  journeys  were  made  by  the  missionaries, 
the  chiefs,  and  the  most  competent  of  the  people,  selected  for  that  pur- 
pose, to  promote  attention  to  learning  and  religion  ;  and  with  good  suc- 
cess. Teachers  were  brought  together  occasionally  to  receive  special 
instruction,  and  some  of  the  principal  chiefs  spent  a  part  of  their  time  in 
teaching.  The  morals  and  customs  of  the  people  improved.  Though 
they  were  still  an  uncivilized  people,  and  a  stranger,  on  arriving,  might 
think  their  condition  could  never  have  been  worse,  yet  the  progress  as- 
tonished those  who  had  long  known  them.  Mr.  Young,  an  Englishman 
who  had  been  strangely  left  on  Hawaii,  and  finding  for  a  long  time  no 
opportunity  to  escape,  had  become  an  inhabitant,  expressed  his  surprise 
to  see  the  ready  triumph  of  the  gospel  over  barbarous  and  immoral 
habits,  on  the  prevalence  of  which  his  labors,  for  thirty  years,  could  make 
no  impression. 

The  opposition  of  foreigners  continued.  There  was  a  outrage  at  Lahaina. 
third  outrage  at  Lahaina.  The  crew  of  the  English  whale  ship  John 
Palmer,  commanded  by  Capt.  Clark,  said  to  be  a  native  of  Massachu- 
setts, had  succeeded  in  enticing  several  women  on  board  their  vessel. 
Hoapili,  the  governor,  now  the  highest  male  chief  on  the  islands,  de- 
manded them  of  the  Captain,  proposing  to  send  himself  to  the  vessel  for 
them.  Capt.  Clark  first  evaded  and  then  ridiculed  (he  demand.  Three 
days  having  been  thus  consumed,  Hoapili  resolved  to  take  vigorous 
measures  to  enforce  the  law.  He  told  Capt.  Clark  that  he  should  not 
be  permitted  to  return  to  his  vessel,  unless  the  women  were  brought  on 
shore  ;  and  ordered  the  ship's  boat  to  be  drawn  up  upon  the  beach ;  but, 
being  as  open  hearted  and  unsuspecting  as  he  was  brave  and  upright,  he 
took  no  measures  to  prevent  intercourse  between  Capt.  Clark  and  his 
crew  by  other  boats,  and  the  Captain  sent  permission  to  his  men  to  fire 
upon  the  town,  unless  he  was  released  in  an  hour.  The  knowledge  of 
this  state  of  things  having  come  to  the  mission  house,  Mr.  Richards  re- 
paired to  Hoapih's,  to  attempt  a  reconciliation.     Captain  Clark  raved 


200  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

and  scolded,  and  threatened  to  batter  down  Lahaina ;  but  finally  promised 
that  if  the  governor  would  release  him,  the  women  should  be  sent  on 
shore  and  every  thing  settled  by  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning.  Mr. 
Richards  suggested  that  it  would  be  well  to  accept  the  offer,  and  Hoa- 
pili,  with  some  hesitation,  consented.  Just  after  this,  the  crew  commenc- 
ed firing,  but  ceased  when  informed  of  their  Captain's  release.  Five 
balls  were  discharged,  all  in  the  direction  of  the  mission  house.  Capt. 
Clark  afterwards  asserted  that  he  ordered  his  men  to  fire  over  the  mission 
house,  and  not  at  it.  One  ball  passed  very  near  the  roof.  The  next 
morning,  October  24,  he  sailed  for  Oahu,  without  fulfilling  his  promise  ; 
thinking,  no  doubt,  that  lying  to  a  barbarian  chief  was  a  capital  joke. 
Excitement  at  A  part  of  Mr.  Richards'  letter,  giving  an  account  of  the 

H<.,.ai.,iK.  conduct  of  Captain  Buckle  at  Lahaina,  had  been  published 

in  the  Missionary  Herald,  from  which  it  had  been  copied  into  the  news- 
papers and  extensively  circulated.  The  account  arrived  at  Honolulu 
near  the  close  of  this  year.  Capt.  Buckle  was  there.  The  excitement 
was  tremendous.  The  Sandwich  Islands  had  been  regarded  as  a  spot, 
out  of  sight  of  the  civihzed  world,  where  men  might  wallow  in  all  moral 
pollution,  and  return  with  reputations  untarnished.  The  discovery  that 
this  privilege  was  now  at  an  end,  and  that  whatever  they  should  do  at 
the  Islands  was  hable  to  be  known  elsewhere,  was  more  than  the  vicious 
would  bear.  Their  rage  was  unbounded.  They  threatened  even  to  go 
to  Lahaina  and  kill  Mr.  Richards  ;  and  for  a  while  it  was  feared  that 
blood  would  be  shed.  The  British  Consul,  too,  demanded  satisfaction 
for  the  detention  of  Captain  Clark  and  his  boat  at  Lahaina.  At  length, 
Kaahumanu  ordered  the  principal  chiefs  and  the  missionaries  from  La- 
haina to  Honolulu,  early  in  December.  While  the  chiefs  were  together, 
laws  were  proposed  against  murder,  theft,  adultery,  rum-selling,  and 
other  crimes  and  immoralities.  The  opposition  of  foreigners  was  violent ; 
the  British  Consul  taking  the  lead,  and  threatening  the  islanders  with 
the  vengeance  of  Great  Britain,  if  they  should  presume  to  make  laws 
for  themselves.  However,  the  first  three  were  enacted,  to  go  into  opera- 
tion in  all  the  islands  next  year.  The  others  were  enacted,  but  no  time 
set  for  their  enforcement.  All  w^ere  were  ordered  to  be  printed  for  the 
information  of  the  people. 

CO-.U.CU  of  ihe  Chiefs.  A  couHcll  w^as  callcd,  to  investigate  complaints  against 
the  missionaries.  The  dissatisfied  foreigners  attended.  Their  chief  com- 
plaint was  against  Mr.  Richards'  letter.  They  were  requested  to  bring 
their  charges  in  writing,  but  refused.  After  many  hours  had  been  useless- 
ly consumed,  the  chieis  sent  for  Mr.  Richards.  On  hearing  this,  the  com- 
plainants immediately  rose— the  chiefssaid,  "  they  jumped  up  like  persons 
seized  with  the  colic," — and  hastily  retired.  Mr.  Richards  came,  and 
acknowledged  that  he  wrote  the  letter.  Hoapili  said  they  all  knew  that 
the  letter  was  true,  and  the  council  agreed  that  it  could  be  of  no  use  to 
pay  any  further  attention  to  the  matter.  All  soon  went  to  their  homes  ; 
Hoapili  shipped  a  good  supply  of  cannon  to  Lahaina,  to  be  used  in  case 
of  any  future  attack  j  Capt.  Buckle  soon  sailed  for  England  j  and  thus 


1827.]  ROMAN   CATHOLIC    MISSION.  201 

ended  the  last  scene  of  the  kind  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Some  good 
came  out  of  all  this  evil.  It  effectually  opened  the  eyes  of  the  chiefs  to 
the  character  of  all  parties. 

This  year  a  new  mode  of  attack  upon  the  mission  was  Enrorem  suhdeier.. 
adopted;  publishing  accusations  against  it  in  foreign  countries.  The  Lon- 
don Quarterly  Review  took  the  lead.  Its  statements  were  supported  by  a 
letter,  in  bad  EngHsh,  from  Boki,  ''  which,"  the  editor  said,  '*  we  pledge 
ourselves  to  be  genuine."  Unfortunately  for  the  pledge,  it  was  well 
known  that  Boki  could  neither  write,  read,  speak  or  understand  English 
at  all.  A  copy  of  this  letter  in  the  language  of  the  Islands,  endorsed 
with  Boki's  certificate,  in  his  own  hand,  that  it  was  not  written  by  him, 
is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Board.  The  accusations  of  the  Re- 
view were  very  thoroughly  refuted,  soon  after  their  appearance,  by 
the  Rev.  C.  S,  Stewart.  From  that  time  to  the  present,  voyagers  from 
different  countries  have  visited  the  Islands,  and  being  unable  to  converse 
with  the  natives,  from  ignorance  of  the  language,  have  sought  informa- 
tion from  some  of  the  principal  foreign  residents.  These  men,  who 
appear  to  have  neither  candor  enough  to  give  correct  information  nor 
genius  enough  to  invent  a  new  slander,  repeat  the  same  accusations,  in 
nearly  the  same  words,  to  one  visitor  after  another.  The  voyagers  go 
home,  and  publish  the  accounts  of  what  they  have  learned  at  the  Islands; 
and  thus  we  seem  to  have  the  independent  testimony  of  several  respecta- 
ble witnesses,  when  in  reality  we  have  only  successive  editions  of  the 
same  defamation,  sent  through  different  channels  by  the  same  enemies 
of  the  mission.  Hence  the  remarkable  and  otherwise  unaccountable 
similarity,  even  in  the  selection  of  words  and  arrangement  of  sentences, 
between  the  accounts  which  different  voyagers  give  of  the  errors  of  the 
missionaries.     The  names  of  the  chief  defamers  are  well  known. 

'i'his  year,  also,  the  first  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  arriv-  p^„,^„  caihoix 
ed  at  the  Islands.     It  may  be  well  to  state  the  origin  of  this    '*""'""• 
mission. — The  reader  will  recollect,  that  when  the  American  missiona- 
ries first  arrived,  certain  foreioners  residing  at  the  Islands  endeavored  to 

•  •  •  1  It' 

persuade  the  chiefs  to  forbid  their  landing,  and  actually  succeeded  m 

keeping  the  question  in  suspense  for  about  two  weeks,  when  the  king 
and  chiefs  determined  to  admit  them  for  one  year,  on  trial.  During  the 
year,  one  John  Rives,  a  French  adventurer,  showed  himself  peculiarly 
hostile  to  the  mission,  and  openly  threatened  to  procure  its  expulsion 
from  the  Islands  at  the  end  of  the  year.  I'his,  however,  he  was  unable 
to  accomplish.  When  the  king,  Liholiho,  resolved  to  visit  England, 
Rives  solicited  the  privilege  of  accompanying  him,  as  one  of  his  suite, 
but  was  refused.  After  the  vessel  was  loosed  from  her  moorings,  Rives 
followed  in  a  boat,  contiived  to  get  on  board,  and  thus  went  to  Eng- 
land in  the  same  vessel  that  carried  the  king.  After  the  king's  death, 
he  went  to  France,  where  he  boasted  largely  of  his  extensive  plantations, 
immense  wealth,  and  unbounded  influence  at  the  Sandwich  Islands;  and 
the  fact  that  he  had  come  to  England  with  the  king  doubtless  made  his 
story  appear  the  more  credible.     It  is  stated,  on  Roman  Catholic  autho- 

2G 


202  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1827. 

rity,  that  he  apphed  to  the  College  of  Picpiis,  (so  called  from  its  location 
in  Picpus-street,  in  Paris,)  for  priests  to  be  sent  to  the  Islands;  that  his 
application  was  favorably  received,  and  that  in  July,  1826,  John  Alexius 
Augustine  Bachelot  was  appointed  by  Pope  Leo  XII,  apostolic  prefect 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands;  and  that  on  the  17th  of  November,  M,  Ba- 
chelot, with  M.  Armand,  a  Fiench  priest,  Patrick  Short,  an  Irish  priest 
educated  in  France,  and  four  laymen,  sailed  from  Bourdeaux  in  the 
French  ship  Cornet,  Capt.  Plassad,  and  arrived  at  Honolulu,  July  7, 
1827.  It  is  known  from  other  sources,  that  Rives  purchased  pictures 
and  furniture  for  a  church,  and  other  goods  to  a  large  amount,  and  en- 
gaged to  pay  for  them  and  for  the  passage  of  the  priests,  on  the  arrival 
of  the  Cornet  at  Honolulu.  "Whether  all  this  was  done  in  pursuance 
of  a  plan  devised  by  the  enemies  of  the  American  mission  before  he  left 
the  Islands,  is  not  known;  though  several  circumstances  render  it 
probable.  When  the  Cornet  arrived  at  Honolulu,  Rives  had  not  re- 
turned, nor  is  it  known  that  he  has  ever  been  there  since  that  time ; 
nor  could  Capt.  Plassad  find  any  plantations  or  other  propeity  belonging 
to  him.  The  priests  and  their  company  landed  privately.  They  pro- 
fess, and  probably  with  truth,  to  have  called  on  Boki,  who,  they  assert, 
received  them  courteously,  and  ordered  a  house  to  be  prepared  for  their 
reception  ;  but  they  do  not  pretend  that  he  gave  them  permission  to  re- 
main there  permanently,  or  as  missionaries.  Indeed,  JVi.  Bachelot  express- 
ly stated,  as  late  as  1835,  that  such  permission  had  never  been  obtained, 
or  even  requested,  from  the  government.  When  their  arrival  became 
known  to  the  regent,  she  sent  Boki  to  them,  with  an  order  to  leave  the 
country  in  the  vessel  that  brought  them.  An  order  was  also  sent  to 
Capt.  Plassad,  requiring  him  to  take  them  away;  but,  as  his  vessel  was 
moored  beyond  the  range  of  the  guns  in  the  fort,  the  order  could  not  be 
enforced.  He  informed  an  American  gentleman  residing  there,  of  his 
intention  to  take  advantage  of  this  circumstance  ;  adding,  with  an  oath, — 
"  I  have  had  trouble  enough  with  them,  and  they  shall  not  go  on  board 
my  ship  again."  After  spending  some  time  in  vain  endeavors  to  sell 
the  goods  that  Rives  had  ordered,  he  hoisted  sail,  leaving  behind  him  the 
priests  and  their  assistants,  for  whose  passage  he  had  received  no  com- 
pensation. The  piiests,  it  is  said,  celebrated  their  first  mass,  July  14. 
Havino-  procured  some  of  the  books  published  by  the  American  mission, 
they  began  the  study  of  the  language;  and  their  laymen  commenced 
the  erection  of  a  building,  to  serve  as  a  residence  and  chapel,  which 
was  completed  about  the  last  of  December. 

A  reinforcement  of  this  mission  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  third  of 
November.  Its  members  were.  Rev.  Messrs.  Lorin  Andrews,  Jonathan 
S.  Green,  Peter  J.  Gulick,  and  Ephraim  W.  Clark ;  Dr.  Gerrit  P.  Judd  ; 
Mr.  Stephen  Shepard,  printer;  their  wives ;  Miss  Maria  C.  Ogden,  Miss 
Delia  Stone,  Miss  Mary  Ward  and  Miss  Maria  Patten,  assistants,  to 
reside  in  the  different  mission  families.  Mr.  Green  was  instructed  to 
embrace  the  first  favorable  opportunity  for  visiting  the  Northwest  coast 
of  America,  for  the  purpose  of  learning  what  openings  might  be  found 
for  missionary  labors. 


1828.]  ANNUAL   MEETING   AT   PHILADELPHIA.  203 


CHAPTER    XX. 

1828. — Meeting  at  Philadelphia. — TJombay. — Several  conversions. — Excite- 
ment amontr  the  Brahmuns. — Babajee. — Ceylon. — Schools  transferred  to 
the  Church  Missionary  Society. — Beirdl. — M  issionaries  retire  to  Malta. — Mr. 
Brewer  returns  to  America. — He  requests  and  receives  a  dismission. — Mr. 
Greene's  visit  to  ihe  Imiian  Missions. — Death  of  Mr.  Hoyt. — Cherokees  ad- 
mitteil  to  the  ciiurches. — Awakening  among  the  Choctaws. — Mr.  Kings- 
bury's letter. — Stockbridge  mission  commenced. — Sandwich  Islands. — More 
quiet. — Progress  of  printing  and  schools. — Increased  religious  attention. — 
Native  prayer  meetings. — ^Awakening  at  Kailua. — Return  of  Mr.  Ely. — 
Roman  Catholic  mission. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  first,  second 
and  third  days  of  October.  The  income  of  the  Board,  for  the  financial 
year,  had  been  about  $102,000,  or  more  than  $14,000  greater  than  the 
preceding  year.  The  payments  from  the  treasury  had  been  more  than 
$107,000,  and  the  debt  was  increased  to  $22,179,21. 

At  this  meeting,  the  Board  resolved  to  institute  a  fund,  to  be  com- 
posed of  legacies  and  donations  made  for  that  object,  for  the  support  of 
aged  and  infirm  missionaries,  and  the  widows  and  children  of  missiona- 
ries; it  being  understood  that  such  persons  are  bound  lo  do  what  they 
can  for  their  own  support,  and  that  the  proceeds  of  the  fund  should  be 
applied  only  to  meet  the  unavoidable  deficiency.  Legacies  and  dona- 
tions for  this  fund,  however,  have  never  been  received  to  any  considera- 
ble amount,  and  all  such  claims  have  been  met  from  the  annual  receipts 
of  the  Board.  The  prevailing  sentiment  among  the  patrons  of  the 
Board  seems  to  be  against  providing  permanent  funds  for  objects  which 
can  as  well  be  accomplished  without  them.  The  plan  was  afterwards 
essentially  modified. 

Dr.  Wisner  was  added  to  the  Prudential  Committee.  New nrr.ngomenu  at 
The  increase  of  business  demanded  an  increase  of  strength  ""' "°°""' 
in  the  Secretary's  department.  More  than  2400  letters  had  been  writ- 
ten and  sent  from  the  Rooms  during  the  year.  Constant  correspondence 
must  be  maintained  with  about  70  large  auxiliary  societies,  including  at 
least  1500  local  associations  ;  with  clergymen  and  others  in  various 
parts  of  this  and  other  countries;  with  22-3  missionaries  and  assistants, 
and  with  an  increasing  number  of  candidates  for  employment.  The 
Board  therefore  resolved  to  appoint  another  Assistant  Corresponding 
Secretary,  and  Mr.  David  Greene  was  elected  lo  that  office.  In  practice, 
by  an  arrangement  made  at  the  Roon)S,  Mr.  Anderson  was  Assistant 
Secretary  for  Correspondence  with  missions  beyond  the  seas,  and  Mr. 
Greene  for  Domestic  Correspondence,  including  that  with  the  missions 
on  this  continent. 


204  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1828. 

BombiLy  Mission.  At  Bombay,  the  missionaries  werG  less  interrupted  by 

ill  health  than  in  any  former  year,  and  their  various  departments  of 
labor  were  carried  on  with  unusual  uniformity.  The  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel was  attended  by  an  increasing  number  of  the  natives,  and  with  more 
order  and  solemnity  than  formerly.  Two  men  were  received  into  the 
church;  an  intelligent  Portuguese,  who  had  for  some  time  been  seriously 
attentive  to  religious  instruction,  and  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  who 
had  been  engaged  in  the  whale  fishery,  and  had  become  pious  after  a 
visit  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  A  young  lady  who  resided  for  a  while 
in  one  of  the  mission  families,  at  length  gave  pleasing  evidence  of  a 
change  of  heart.  A  Mahratta  woman,  the  mother  of  the  female  teacher 
who  died  in  hope  the  year  before,  followed  her  daughter  into  another 
world,  and  there  was  some  reason  to  hope,  into  heaven.  The  feelings 
and  conduct  of  her  daughter  in  view  of  death,  so  different  from  those  of 
a  heathen,  deeply  impressed  her  mind.  She  became  an  habitual  attend- 
ant at  the  mission  chapel,  and  in  her  last  sickness  declared  her  failh  in 
Jesus  Christ  as  her  Savior.  A  Hindoo  convert  from  a  distant  village, 
whose  attention  was  first  arrested  by  certain  tracts  that  fell  into  his 
possession,  was  baptized  in  the  chapel  of  the  American  mission,  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Stevenson,  of  the  Scottish  mission.  The  Hindoo  who  was 
baptized  in  1826  was  deterred,  by  the  opposition  of  his  relatives,  from 
coming  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  They  were  especially  opposed  to  this 
ordinance,  because,  in  celebrating  it,  he  must  eat  with  Christians,  by 
which  his  caste  would  be  lost  and  his  family  disgraced.  He  was  there- 
fore separated  from  the  church ;  though  some  hope  was  still  ei.tertained 
of  his  piety. 

The  schools  rather  increased  during  the  year.  One  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  Jewish  children  in  the  Hebrew  language  was  established  at 
Alibag,  about  30  miles  south  of  Bombay,  under  the  instruction  of 
Samuel,  a  Jew,  who  had  been  for  eight  years  in  the  service  of  the  mission. 
Babajee  and  the  I^  thc  Spring  of  this  year,  a  rule  was  adopted,  that  the 

Brah.nuns.  teachcrs,  scholars,  and  all  persons  in  the  employment  of 

the  mission,  should  stand  during  prayer  at  the  chapel.  This  had  been 
the  practice  at  Mahim,  and  in  other  missions,  and  even  Brahmuns  had 
readily  complied  with  it;  but  here  it  raised  a  storm  of  excitement. 
The  Brahmuns  were  afraid  that  even  so  much  compliance  with  the 
forms  of  Christianity  might  lead  to  more,  and  in  the  end  endanger  the 
Hindoo  religion.  A  combination  was  formed  to  resist  the  rule,  and  all 
the  Brahmun  teachers  left  the  service  of  the  mission,  except  Babajee. 
He  had  entered  the  service  of  the  Scottish  mission  in  1820,  and  in  1823 
came  to  Bombay,  where  he  had  ever  since  been  employed  by  the  Amer- 
ican mission.  He  had  sometimes  appeared  to  feel  the  force  of  Christian 
truth,  but  generally  was  as  careless  as  his  countrymen.  He  said  that 
thre  was  nothing  in  the  rule  improper  in  itself,  or  contrary  to  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Hindoos ;  and  that  he  would  comply  the  next  Sabbath. 
Though  threatened  with  loss  of  caste,  he  kept  his  word.  Council  after 
council  was  called  to  condemn  him  and  cast  him  out,  at  one  of  which  at 


1828.]  CEYLON   MISSION.      BEIRUT.      MISSIONARIES   RETIRE.  205 

least  a  thousand  Brahmuns  were  present.  He  appealed  to  their  common 
sense  against  the  absurdity  of  persecuting  him  so  violently  for  an  act 
neither  improper  in  itself  nor  forbidden  in  their  sacred  books,  while 
there  were  Brahmuns  present,  with  whom  he  had  eaten  beef  and  drunken 
brandy  and  caroused  for  whole  nights  together,  and  no  censure  had  been 
inflicted  on  them.  They,  however,  imposed  such  humiliating  penances 
upon  him,  and  were  so  resolute  in  their  wrath,  that  it  was  thought  best 
for  him  to  retire  awhile  to  the  Deccan.  Other  teachers  soon  came  for- 
ward, eager  to  be  employed  by  the  mission  ;  and  many  of  the  Brah- 
muns who  had  left,  soon  came  back  and  resumed  their  place  ■,  submitting 
to  the  offensive  rule  without  further  contest.  After  a  while,  Babajee 
came  back,  and  was  permitted  to  pursue  his  business  unmolested ;  but 
these  events  did  much  to  cure  him  of  his  regard  for  Brahminism. 

At  Ckylon,  this  year  was  much  like  tiie  last.  There  ce^io,,  Minion. 
were  some  instances  of  conversion.  On  the  24th  of  January,  14  were 
admitted  to  the  church,  and  21  during  the  year.  Preaching  in  the 
neighboring  villages  was  manifestly  useful.  From  want  of  funds,  it 
was  found  necessary  to  give  up  a  few  of  the  free  schools ;  several  of 
which  were  transferred  to  the  care  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's 
station  at  Nellore.  The  examination  of  the  Seminary  at  Batticotta,  in 
September,  was  highly  satisfactory  to  Chief  Justice  Ottley  and  other 
gentlemen  of  distinction  who  attended.  A  class  of  15  left  the  Seminary, 
having  completed  their  course  of  study,  and  a  class  of  29  entered  the 
preparatory  school,  selected  from  not  less  than  200  applicants,  whose 
claims  were  clamorously  urged  by  their  relatives  and  f"riends. — What 
a  change,  since  the  time  when  it  was  dilhcult  to  procure  a  single 
pupil ! 

The  schools  at  Beirut  were  all  broken  up  ;  intercourse  b  irut.  The  n.is- 
with  the  inhabitants,  to  any  considerable  extent,  had  be-  ='""•"•'" '•""^•^• 
come  difhcult  and  dangerous;  the  plague  was  again  approaching;  the 
prospect  of  war  between  Turkey  and  England  increased  ;  the  English 
Consul,  Mr.  Abbott,  thinking  his  life  unsafe,  had  secretly  left  the  place, 
— so  that  now  the  missionaries  were  no  longer  under  consular  protec- 
tion ;  commerce  had  almost  ceased,  and  vessels  in  which  they  could 
depart  were  seldom  to  be  found ;  in  this  stagnation  of  commerce,  the 
transmission  of  funds  would  be  uncertain  ;  Mr.  Temple  was  about  to 
leave  Malta  on  a  visit  to  his  native  land,  (which  he  did  in  autumn,)  and 
some  of  them  must  supply  his  place,  or  the  press  must  stop  ;  and  a 
passage  could  now  be  obtained  in  an  Austrian  vessel.  Messrs.  Goodell, 
Bird,  and  Smith,  therefore,  embarked  on  the  2d  of  May,  and  arrived  at 
Malta  on  the  29th.  They  were  accompanied  by  the  two  Armenians, 
Carabet  and  Wortabet,  who  had  for  some  time  been  in  their  families. 
They  were  suffered  to  depart  without  molestation.  No  enemy  opened 
his  mouth  in  triumph.  As  they  went  down  to  the  water's  side,  those 
from  whom  scoffs  were  expected,  exclaimed  with  apparent  seriousness, 
"  The  Lord  preserve  and  bless  you ;"  while  a  few  devoted  friends  were 
overwhelmed  with  grief.     At  Malta,  during  the  remainder  of  the  year, 


206  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1828. 

they  were  mostly  employed  in  study  and  in  superintending  the  press. 
Carabet  and  Wortabet  assisted  in  the  Armenian  language ;  Pharez 
Shidiak  in  the  Arabic ;  and  Nicholas  Petrokokino,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated at  Amherst  College,  in  Greek.  Everything  was  arranged  on  the 
expectation  that  the  station  at  Beirut  would  be  resumed,  and  new  sta- 
tions occupied  at  Constantinople,  at  Smyrna  and  in  Greece,  and  as  soon 
as  practicable. 

Mr.  Brewer's  reu,r„.  Mr.  Brcwcr  sailcd  from  Smyrna  early  in  May,  and 
arrived  at  Boston  on  the  17th  of  July.  His  arrival  was  unexpected ; 
but  after  hearing  his  reasons,  the  Committee  voted  that  he  appeared  to 
have  acted  conscientiously,  and  without  any  intention  to  violate  an 
established  usage  of  the  Committee  ;  and  that,  in  view  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  his  return  was  excusable.  When  he  went  to 
the  East,  it  was  with  the  understanding  that  he  should  return  in  two  or 
three  years ;  and  in  view  of  the  disturbed  state  of  the  Turkish  empire 
and  other  circumstances,  he  thought  the  present  the  most  favorable  time. 
Mr.  Brewer  expected  soon  to  return  to  Greece  as  a  missionary  of  the 
Board,  and  to  establish  a  seminary  of  learning  there.  The  Committee 
hesitated  about  sending  him  ;  for  they  had  not  all  that  knowledge  of 
Greece,  which  the  management  of  such  an  undertaking  seemed  to  de- 
mand ;  and  various  circumstances  indicated  that  Mr.  Brewer  had  not 
that  confidence  in  the  Committee,  which  would  enable  them  to  work 
together  pleasantly  and  profitably.  It  was  resolved,  therefore,  to  refer 
the  matter  to  the  Board,  at  its  approaching  annual  meeting.  When 
the  Board  met,  the  whole  matter  was  laid  before  the  committee  on  that 
part  of  the  annual  report  which  related  to  missions  in  countries  border- 
ino-  on  the  Mediterranean.  After  hearing  a  full  statement  of  facts  and 
ar2;uments  from  Mr.  Brewer  and  others,  and  learning  that  the  measure 
would  be  agreeable  to  all  concerned,  this  committee  recommended  that 
the  whole  subject  be  referred  to  a  special  committee,  to  be  composed  of 
the  Rev.  Drs.  Day  and  Chapin,  and  the  members  of  the  Piudenlial 
Committee.  Mr.  Brewer  declared  that  he  should  acquiesce  in  the  de- 
cision of  this  committee  as  final.  The  committee  met  on  the  13th  and 
14th  of  October.  Dr.  Day  was  chairman,  and  Dr.  Chapin  was  also 
present.  After  a  full  examination  of  the  case,  they  resolved  unan- 
imously, that  it  was  not  expedient  that  Mr.  Brewer  should  return  to  the 
Mediterranean  at  present,  as  a  missionary  of  the  Board;  that,  if  he  in- 
sisted on  an  immediate  decision  of  the  question  whether  the  Board  would 
employ  him  at  some  future  time,  it  must  be  decided  in  the  negative  ; 
but  that,  if  he  was  willing  to  leave  the  question  of  his  future  employ- 
ment undecided  for  the  present,  it  be  referred  to  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee. These  transactions  produced  some  excitement  in  a  few  places, 
and  at  New  Haven,  Ct.,  a  society  of  ladies  was  formed,  to  support  Mr. 
Brewer  in  the  East.  On  the  12lh  of  November,  Mr.  Brewer  requested 
a  dismission  from  the  service  of  the  Board ;  and  on  the  21st  it  was 
granted.  To  the  certificate  of  dismission  there  was  appended  a  state- 
ment of  the  facts  in  the  case,  which,  in  his  opinion,  nullified  its  influ- 


I8i58.]  INDIAN   MISSIONS.       ADMISSIONS   TO    THE    CHURCHES.  207 

ence  as  a  dismission  in  regular  standing.  He  requested  one  in  a  different 
form  ;  and  one  was  given, declaring  that  he  was  dismissed  "in  regular 
standing,  and  without  any  impeachment  of  his  Christian  or  ministerial 
character."  Mr.  Brewer  soon  returned  to  Smyrna,  where  he  was  sus- 
tained as  a  missionary  by  the  society  of  ladies  in  New  Haven,  and  after- 
wards by  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  at  Pittsburgh.  During 
a  part  of  the  time,  he  also  received  aid  from  the  American  Seamen's 
Friend  Society. 

Mr.  Greene,  having  concluded  the  business  relating  to  um^,  Mu.i^n,. 
the  Chickasaw  mission  and  left  Charleston  just  before  the  '*'''  ^'^'^^"'='' "''"■ 
year  commenced,  proceeded  to  the  Cherokee  country  in  January.  In 
February,  he  visited  the  Chickasaw  missions.  The  missionaries  rejoiced 
to  receive  him,  and  to  karn  that  their  stations  were  transferred  to  the 
care  of  the  Board.  Having  made  some  necessary  arrangements  for 
their  personal  comfort  and  the  successful  prosecution  of  their  work,  he 
visited  the  Choctaw  missions  in  March,  and  then,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Kingsbury,  visited  the  stations  beyond  the  Mississippi ;  and  finally,  re- 
turning by  way  of  the  stations  in  Ohio  and  New  York,  reached  Boston 
in  July ;  having,  in  eight  months,  travelled  about  60C0  miles,  and  in- 
spected about  thirty  stations.  The  information  acquired  and  imparted 
on  this  tour  was  well  worth  the  expense,  fatigue  and  exposure  which  it 
cost. 

Miss  Lucy  Ames  and  Miss  Delight  Sargeant  joined  the  Cherokee 
mission  on  contract,  for  a  limited  time.  It  had  become  the  opinion 
both  of  the  older  missionaries  and  of  the  Committee,  that  in  the  Indian 
missions  such  temporary  engagements  were  better,  when  practicable,  in 
the  case  of  assistants,  than  engagements  for  life  without  previous  ex- 
perience ;  as  they  afforded  opportunity  for  deliberate  choice,  after  prac- 
tical acquaintance  with  a  missionary  life. 

The  Rev,  Ard  Hoyt,  for  some  years  superintendent  of  the  mission, 
died  at  Willstown,  on  the  18th  of  February,  in  the  58th  year  of  his  age, 
and  the  eleventh  of  his  missionary  labors.  For  several  years,  he  had 
been  able  to  do  little  more  than  to  preach,  on  the  Sabbath  in  pleasant 
weather,  and  converse  with  such  as  called  upon  him  for  instruction  ; 
but  his  love  for  the  people  continued  in  all  its  vigor  and  freshness,  and 
they  deeply  lamented  his  death. 

The  additions  to  the  chuiches  were  considerable.  At  /,i,„issio,.,t„  u.e 
Brainerd,  in  July,  54  communicants  met  at  the  Lord's  table,  ^^'"''''"■ 
eight  persons  were  admitted  to  the  church,  and  one  was  received  as  a 
candidate.  There  was  some  special  seriousness  in  the  neighborhood. 
At  Candy's  Creek,  in  August,  five  Cherokees  had  been  admitted  to  the 
church.  At  Haweis,  40  communicants  were  present  in  June,  of  whom 
30  were  members  of  that  church.  Ten  persons  were  then  baptized  ; 
and  during  the  year,  14  were  baptized,  and  8  admitted. 

At  Willstown,  the  black  people  formed  a  society  for  promoting 
civilization  and  Christianity  in  Africa,  which  sent  ten  dollars  this  year 
to  the  American  Colonization  Society. 


208  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1828. 

In  the  annual  report,  the  number  of  communicants  in  all  these 
churches,  the  fruits  of  this  mission,  were  stated  at  160.  Twelve  had 
died  in  faith,  and  there  were  several  candidates  for  admission. 

The  Chickasaw  mission  was  still  favored  with  the  divine  presence. 
In  October,  the  number  of  communicants  at  Monroe  amounted  to  63, 
besides  the  missionaries.     The  awakening  continued  through  the  year. 
Revival  among  li.e         Amoug  thc  Choctaws,  the  seed  which  several  years  had 
choctaws.  i^ggj^  spent  in  sowing,  began  to  spring  up.     Mr.  Kingsbury 

thus  gives  the  spiritual  history  of  this  year,  in  a  letter  written  soon  after 
its  close. 

"  For  more  than  a  year  past,  there  has  been  manifested  in  those  parts 
of  the  nation  where  it  was  enjoyed,  an  increasing  disposition  to  hear  re- 
ligious instruction.  In  the  early  part  of  last  year,  a  few  individuals 
became  hopefully  pious ;  two  of  them  have  united  with  the  church,  and 
two  others  are  candidates  for  admission.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Black 
Creek,  about  40  miles  below  Elliot,  where  our  lamented  brother  Hooper 
bestowed  his  last  labors,  a  very  general  seriousness  prevailed  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  The  people  had  resolved  on  building  immediately  a 
meeting-house,  and  individuals  had  oflfered  very  liberal  subscriptions 
towards  that  object. 

"  But  the  most  marked  and  general  attention  to  the  subject  of  religion, 
and  one  which  has  given  a  new  impulse  to  the  cause  among  the  Choc- 
taws, commenced  under  the  labors  of  our  Methodist  brethren  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  nation.  At  a  general  meeting,  convened  in  July  or 
August  expressly  for  religious  instruction,  and  which  with  propriety  might 
be  called  a  camp-meeting,  six  or  seven  Choctaw  men  became  deeply  im- 
pressed, while  listening  to  a  simple  statement  of  the  crucifixion  of  our 
Savior.  One  of  these  was  affected  with  bodily  exercises,  similar  to  what 
was  experienced  a  few  years  ago  in  the  western  and  southern  states.  A 
large  meeting  was  held  in  October,  at  which  there  was  a  very  great 
and  general  excitement,  and  the  effects  produced  on  many  were  truly- 
remarkable  and  happy.  Some  who  before  were  violent  opposers  of  the 
gospel,  became  its  zealous  friends.  At  these  two  meetings  and  subse- 
quently, several  hundreds  have  manifested  a  desire  to  be  instructed  in 
the  gospel.  A  number  of  these  give  good  evidence  of  piety ;  and  it  is 
peculiarly  gratifying,  that  among  them  are  several  of  our  former  scholars. 

"  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that,  at  the  commencement  of  the  above 
work,  the  old  men,  whom  once  it  was  supposed  nothing  could  move, 
were  the  first  affected ;  and  all,  with  one  exception,  were  captains  of 
clans.  When  these  warriors,  whose  cheeks  had  never  before  been  wet 
with  tears,  were  ridiculed  because  they  wept,  they  replied, '  It  is  not  the 
hand  of  man  that  has  made  us  weep  :  it  is  our  Maker  that  has  caused  it. 
You  never  saw  us  weep  for  what  man  could  do  to  us,  but  we  cannot 
withstand  God.  If  your  Maker  should  deal  with  you  as  he  has  with  us, 
you  would  weep  too.'  These  are  now  persons  of  prayer,  and  appear  to 
be  new  creatures. 

"  This  work  of  grace  has  carrietl  with  it  such  convincing  evidence, 


1828.]  ARKANSAS   MISSION.  209 

that  almost  all  have  been  constrained  to  acknowledge  it  the  work  of 
God.  One  of  the  principal  chiefs,  an  enlightened  man,  and  formerly  no- 
wise disposed  to  favor  such  a  work,  has  been  entirely  convinced  that 
no  other  than  the  Almighty  God  had  power  to  produce  such  a  change 
in  the  Choctavvs.  He  now  spends  much  time  at  religious  meetings,  and 
on  other  occasions,  in  making  known  the  gospel  to  his  people.  Some 
very  unusual  and  remarkable  means  seemed  to  be  required  in  the  case 
of  the  Choctaws,  to  overcome  their  prejudices,  and  to  arouse  them  to  an 
attention  to  the  gospel.  Such  means,  it  is  conceived,  Infinite  Wisdom 
has  employed  in  relation  to  the  above-mentioned  religious  excitement. 

"  On  the  first  Sabbath  in  December,  we  had  a  meeting  at  the  new 
station  near  Col.  Folsom's.  The  weather  was  unfavorable,  and  not  a 
large  number  attended;  but  it  was  a  solemn  and  interesting  occasion. 
The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  for  the  first  time 
at  that  place.  At  that  meeting  the  chief  of  this  district  (the  northeast) 
came  out  very  decidedly  on  the  Lord's  side,  and  spoke  with  much  feel- 
ing and  effect  to  his  people  on  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  affectionately  re- 
commendmg  to  them  to  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  only 
Savior  for  sinners,  and  to  obey  his  commands.  About  ten  came  forward, 
and  expressed  a  desire  to  seek  in  earnest  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 

"  On  the  last  Sabbath  in  December,  the  sacrament  was  administered 
at  Elliot.  The  chief  of  that  district  (the  southwest,)  was  present,  and 
twice  addressed  the  people,  veiy  appropriately  and  earnestly,  on  the  great 
subject  of  religion,  recommending  to  them  to  attend  to  the  great  salva- 
tion offered  in  the  gospel.  Much  seriousness  was  manifested,  and  some 
were  anxious  to  know  what  they  should  do  to  be  saved.  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact,  and  one  which  ought  greatly  to  encourage  the  friends  of  mis- 
sions, that  two  of  the  highest  chiefs  in  the  nation  are  now  personally 
and  zealously  and  efTectually  laboring  to  communicate  the  gospel  to  their 
people." 

The  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas,  showed  an  increasing  Arkai.sas  Missis,. 
desire  to  hear  the  gospel, — which  was  preached  at  stated  times,  at  six 
different  places  within  25  miles  of  Dwight.  The  school  at  Dvvight  was 
prosperous.  At  the  earnest  request  of  the  people,  who  erected  the  ne- 
cessary buildings,  cleared  and  fenced  the  garden,  and  agreed  to  board 
their  own  children  and  furnish  corn  and  meat  for  the  teacher,  a  new 
station  was  commenced  at  Mulberry,  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Palmer.  The 
school  was  opened  in  March.  Dr.  Palmer  had  a  congregation  on  the 
Sabbath,  varying  from  75  to  100,  among  whom  were  many  serious  in- 
quirers after  the  truth,  and  some  instances  of  conversion. 

By  a  treaty  concluded  at  Washington  in  May,  this  division  of  the 
Cherokees  agreed  to  exchange  the  country  which  they  then  occupied, 
for  one  immediately  adjoining  it  upon  the  west.  It  was  stipulated  in  this 
treaty,  that  the  money  which  the  Board  had  expended  in  buildings  and 
other  improvements  should  be  refunded  by  the  United  States,  to  be  used 
for  similar  purposes  in  the  new  residence  of  the  Cherokees. 

At  Mackinaw,  the  last  quarter  of  the  year  was  a  season  of  spiritual 

27 


210  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1828. 

interest,  during  which  there  were  several  instances  of  conversion ;  but 
the  history  of  this  awakening  belongs  mostly  to  the  succeeding  year. 
stnckbridge  Mission.  A  Hiission  was  commenced  among  the  Stockbridge  In- 
dians, who  had  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  Green  Bay.  In  1827,  the 
Rev.  Jesse  Miner,  their  former  pastor,  visited  them,  in  the  service  of  the 
Board ;  and  having  reported  their  condition  and  prospects,  was  appointed 
as  missionary  among  them.  He  arrived  in  June,  1828,  and  found  their 
condition  better  than  he  expected.  They  had  sustained  public  worship 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  other  religious  meetings,  to  good  effect.  Mr.  Au- 
gustus T.  Ambler  was  sent  to  this  mission  as  a  teacher,  about  the  end  of 
the  year. 

Sandwich  Islands.  Thc  missionarics  were  less  disturbed  by  foreigners,  than 

in  preceding  years.  An  increased  number  of  vessels  touched  at  La- 
haina,  and  the  conduct  of  many  officers  and  crews  deserved  commenda- 
tion. On  one  occasion,  the  crews  of  several  English  ships  were  guilty 
of  disorderly  conduct,  and  threatened  to  kill  the  missionaries,  unless  the 
"tabu"  were  removed.  Two  captains  called  the  next  day,  and  promis- 
ed to  prevent  farther  disturbance  from  their  crews.  At  Honolulu,  the 
efforts  of  foreign  residents  to  retard  the  progress  of  knowledge  and  reli- 
gion, and  to  promote  vice  were  incessant,  and  lamentably  successful. 
Yet  even  there  the  good  work  went  forward. 

The  reinforcement,  sent  out  last  year,  arrived  on  the  last  day  of 
March;  and,  at  the  general  meeting  of  the  mission  in  April,  the  newly 
arrived  brethren  were  assigned  to  their  several  stations.  Agreeably  to  a 
suggestion  from  the  Committee,  Mr.  Clark  was  stationed  at  Honolulu, 
with  directions  to  spend  a  part  of  his  time  in  laboring  for  the  benefit  of 
American  seamen.  A  few  were  found  who  gave  evidence  of  piety. 
rruau.g.  The   arrival  of  Mr.  Shepard  gave  an  impulse  to  the 

printing  department.  Two  presses  were  in  almost  constant  operation. 
Four  natives  had  become  very  respectable  workmen,  and  were  employed 
in  the  office.  In  nine  months  previous  to  September  of  this  year,  51,900 
copies  of  hymn  books,  portions  of  Scripture  and  tracts,  were  printed, 
containing  2,417,900  pages  in  all.  The  four  Gospels  had  been  translat- 
ed. That  of  Luke  was  printed  at  the  Islands,  in  an  edition  of  20,000 
copies.  The  others  were  transmitted  to  the  United  States,  to  be  printed 
under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Loomis.  The  American  Bible  Society 
printed  15,000  copies  of  Matthew,  and  Mark  and  John  were  done  at  the 
expense  ol  the  Board. 

siaiion  o„  Katmi.  The  statlon  at  Waimea,  in  Kauai,  which  had  been  va- 

cant for  a  year  or  more,  was  resumed.  The  governor,  Kaikioewa,  one 
of  Kamehameha's  veterans,  was  delighted  with  the  return  of  Mr. 
Whitney  with  additional  aid.  While  left  alone,  he  and  his  wife  Ka- 
puli,  formerly  the  wife  of  Tamoree,  had  done  what  they  could,  and,  in 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Whitney,  the  people  had  not  gone  backward. 
Native  Schools.  Durlng  thc  summer,  tours  of  inspection  and  preaching 

were  made  around  Maui,  and  the  small  islands  of  Lanai,  Molokai,  and 
Kahulawe.     On  Molokai  there  were  about  5,000  inhabitants.     No  mis- 


1828.] 


SANDWICH   ISLANDS.      PROGRESS   OF   PRINTING. 


211 


sionary  had  ever  been  on  this  island,  except  Mr.  Chamberlain,  who  once 
landed  there,  but  made  no  stay,  and  gave  no  instructions.  Here  they 
found  1,000  learners  in  the  schools,  nearly  all  of  whom  could  read. 
On  these  four  islands,  they  examined  225  schools,  in  which  there  were 
present  5,039  males  and  5,204  females,  or  10,243  in  all.  Of  this  num- 
ber, more  than  6,000  could  read,  and  more  than  1,000  could  write. 
The  whole  number  belonging  to  the  schools  was  found  to  be  12,956, 
in  a  population  of  about  37,000.  The  impulse  given  by  this  visitation 
raised  the  number  to  more  than  18,000.  It  is  remarkable,  that  but 
about  one  fifth  of  these  learners  were  under  14  years  of  age.  Some 
were  60  years  old.  On  Hawaii,  Kekupuohi,  one  of  the  wives  of  Ka- 
liopu,  (Tereoboo,)  who  was  king  when  Capt.  Cook  discovered  the 
islands,  learned  to  read  at  the  age  of  80,  though  her  memory  had  failed, 
and  she  was  often  advised  to  give  up  the  attempt ;  so  great  was  her 


212  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1828. 

desire  to  read  the  word  of  God  herself.  Still,  these  schools  were  very 
imperfect.  The  teachers  were  ignorant ;  and  one  of  them  complained 
that  they  were  obliged  to  teach  the  people  their  ignorance,  having 
nothing  else  to  communicate.  Teachers  were  called  together  as  was 
practicable,  to  receive  special  instruction.  The  whole  number  receiving 
instruction  on  all  the  islands  was  not  less  than  45,000. 

The  number  of  marriages  at  Lahaina,  from  the  commencement  of 
the  mission  to  October  of  this  year,  was  994.     Besides  these,  many  cou- 
ples who  were  already  living  together  under  their  former  customs,  came 
forward  and  were  publicly  recognized  as  man  and  wife. 
Eeiigi.>..s  Pro<:r.s5.  Rcligious  Instruction  seemed  to  be  taking  a  deeper 

hold,  in  many  parts  of  the  Islands,  than  ever  before.  At  Lahaina,  in 
April,  about  1,000  of  the  natives  regularly  attended  prayer  meetings, 
and  professed  to  be  seeking  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  In  October, 
the  number  was  considerably  more  than  1,000.  There  were  then  not 
less  than  20  places  on  Maui,  and  many  on  Molokai  and  Lanai  where 
stated  meetings  were  held  for  prayer  and  instruction.  The  native 
teachers  conducted  the  meetings.  They  occupied  the  time  in  reading 
and  teaching  the  various  Scripture  tracts  and  other  books,  and  closed 
with  prayer.  These  teachers,  so  lately  heathen,  were  themselves  ex- 
tremely ignorant.  Religion,  according  to  their  idea  of  it,  probably  con- 
sisted of  little  besides  abstinence  from  idolatry  and  some  gross  vices, 
keeping  the  Sabbath,  attending  worship,  and  learning  to  read.  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  so  far  as  they  knew  their  own  hearts, — which 
was  not  very  far, — they  honestly  received  the  gospel  as  they  understood 
it ;  though  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  few  of  them  understood  enough  of 
it  to  be  a  living  principle  of  holiness  within  them.  It  was  about  this 
age  of  the  mission,  that  some  in  the  interior  of  one  of  the  islands,  who  had 
heard  of  the  new  way  only  by  report,  were  found  to  be  punctual  obser- 
vers of  the  Sabbath,  according  to  the  best  idea  they  had  been  able  to 
gain  of  its  nature  and  duties.  Having  learned  which  day  was  to  be 
observed,  they  kept  their  own  reckoning,  and  when  the  Sabbath  came, 
washed  themselves,  put  on  their  best  clothes,  if  they  had  any  better  than 
others,  lay  down  in  their  huts  and  went  to  sleep.  Yet  even  this  igno- 
rant obedience  brought  men  more  easily  and  favorably  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  whole  "  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ;"  and  who  can  tell  how  much 
true  piety  Omniscience  may  have  seen,  where  the  best  human  judges 
could  discover  satisfactory  evidence  of  none  ? 

Revival  at  KMiun.  At  Kailua,  thc  whole  year  was  a  season  of  deep  inte- 

rest, which  was  much  increased  by  the  lamented  death  of  Mrs.  Bishop, 
on  the  21st  of  February,  after  a  distressing  illness  of  six  months.  The 
thought  that  her  dying  prayers  were  offered  for  them,  that  they  might 
meet  her  in  heaven,  produced  a  deeper  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  na- 
tives, than  any  arguments  or  persuasions.  In  their  joint  letter,  dated 
December  10,  Messrs.  Thurston  and  Bishop  say  : 

"  It  is  more  than  a  year  since  the  first  indications  of  special  attention 
to  religion  were  apparent.     From  that  time  to  the  present,  the  Spirit  of 


1828.]  NATIVE   PRAYER   MEETINGS.  213 

God  has  been  working  in  the  hearts  of  this  people,  and  bringing  num- 
bers into  his  kingdom.  From  the  time  that  our  place  of  worship  was 
completed,  we  had  seen  encouraging  tokens  of  increased  attention  to 
the  ordinances  dispensed  by  us,  and  a  deeply  serious  aspect  was  appa- 
rent among  those  concerning  whom  we  had  entertained  pleasing  hopes. 
During  the  latter  part  of  last  year,  our  houses  began  to  be  visited  by  those 
who  came  to  make  the  great  inquiry  concerning  the  means  of  salvation. 
From  that  time  to  the  present,  our  great  daily  employment,  when  disen- 
gaged from  domestic  avocations  and  other  duties  pertaining  to  our  work, 
has  been  to  give  oral  instruction  to  the  numbers  that  have  thronged  our 
houses  to  inquire  after  the  concerns  of  their  souls.  This  religious  atten- 
tion still  continues  in  a  pleasing  degree,  but  it  has  for  a  few  months  past 
been  gradually  diminishing,  and  at  present  new  cases  of  inquiry  seldom 
occur. 

"  The  prominent  features  of  the  late  religious  attention  at  Kailua 
were  a  deep  sense  of  sinfulness,  of  danger,  and  of  inability,  on  the  part 
of  the  inquirer  himself,  to  subdue  the  evil  propensities  of  the  heart,  or 
effect  any  good  thing.  To  persons  of  this  class  our  instructions  have 
been  simple,  and  confined  principally  to  an  explanation  of  the  nature  and 
necessity  of  repentance  and  faith,  together  with  an  entire  dependence 
on  the  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  the  only  means  of  escaping  from  the 
power  and  dominion  of  sin. 

"  In  order  to  possess  a  hold  upon  the  religious  feelings  of  all  such 
as  profess  to  have  become  serious  inquirers,  and  to  maintain  a  continued 
influence  over  them,  a  moral  and  religious  society  has  been  formed,  which 
meets  weekly  on  the  afternoon  of  each  Friday,  to  which  all  persons  are 
admitted  who  profess  their  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  ex- 
press a  desire  to  obtain  an  interest  in  the  Savior  of  sinners.  Upon  be- 
coming members  of  this  association,  they  engage  to  live  sober  and  moral 
lives  ;  to  attend  diligently  upon  the  means  of  grace  ;  to  observe  the  duty 
of  prayer  ;  and,  if  heads  of  families,  to  maintain  family  worship  morn- 
ing and  evening.  If  any  member  of  the  society  is  found  guilty  of  im- 
morality, he  is  excluded  until  he  confesses  his  fault  and  manifests  tokens 
of  repentance.  At  these  meetings,  moral  and  religious  subjects  are  dis- 
cussed, particularly  those  of  a  practical  nature.  This  association,  which 
is  similar  to  those  at  the  other  stations,  has  a  powerful  effect  upon  the 
public  sentiment,  and  is  fast  raising  the  standard  of  Christian  morals. 
The  number  of  individuals,  male  and  female,  who  belong  to  this  society, 
is  between  400  and  500. 

"  But  there  is  another  association,  composed  of  such  as  give  evidence 
of  a  work  of  grace  in  their  hearts,  and  selected  from  the  members  of  that 
just  mentioned.  They  meet  with  one  or  both  of  us  on  the  evening  of 
each  Friday.  The  present  number  belonging  to  this  meeting  is  about 
60,  including  those  already  received  into  the  church.  This  number  is 
increasing  by  small  weekly  additions.  The  instructions  imparted  to  them 
are  upon  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  grace,  and  are  usually  conveyed 
in  the  form  of  question  and  answer.     It  is  from  this  little  band  that  we 


214  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1828. 

select  our  candidates  for  church  membership,  after  having  continued  them 
a  suitable  time  under  a  course  of  preparatory  instruction. 

"  On  Sabbath,  the  9th  of  March  last,  the  first  fruits  of  our  labors  here 
were  gathered  into  the  church.  Six  persons,  two  men  and  four  women, 
came  forward,  and,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  concourse  of  people,  solemn- 
ly avowed  their  belief  in  the  articles  of  Christian  faith,  took  upon  them- 
selves the  vows  of  the  covenant,  and  were  baptized  ;  after  which  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  administered.  It  was  a  day  of  deep  interest  to  all 
the  young  converts.  They  afterwards  came  to  us,  and  in  an  unaffected 
and  feeling  manner,  declared  that  they  had  in  spirit  partaken  with  us  of 
the  sacred  emblems  of  our  Lord's  body  and  blood.  Nor  to  these  alone 
was  it  a  day  of  power.  Many  who  had  before  remained  undecided,  be- 
came from  this  time  determined  to  seek  the  Lord,  and  have  since  become 
hopefully  new  creatures. 

"  In  August  last,  twenty  persons,  twelve  men  and  eight  women, 
were  propounded,  but  owing  to  the  absence  of  one  of  us  to  another  sta- 
tion, were  not  admitted  to  the  church  until  the  last  Sabbath  in  Novem- 
ber. This,  too,  was  a  season  of  solemn  interest  like  the  former.  Many 
of  the  candidates  were  persons  of  distinction  and  influence,  among  whom 
was  Keoua,  the  wife  of  Governor  Adams,  (Kuakini,)  and  a  chief  of  the 
first  rank  in  the  Islands.  Our  church  now  consists  of  26  native  members, 
all  of  whem  have  given  for  a  full  year,  and  many  of  them  much  longer, 
a  satisfactory  evidence  of  piety,  and  have  walked  worthily  in  their  pro- 
fession." 

The  whole  number  of  native  communicants,  on  all  the  islands,  in 
April,  amounted  to  50 ;  at  the  end  of  the  year,  to  108. 

Mr.  Ely,  who  commenced  the  station  atKaawaloa  in  February,  1824, 
was  compelled,  by  the  dangerous  illness  of  himself  and  wife,  to  leave  the 
Islands.  He  embarked,  October  15,  in  the  Enterprise,  Capt.  Swain,  of 
Nantucket.  The  owner,  Gilbert  Coffin,  Esq.,  generously  declined  receiv- 
ing any  compensation  for  the  passage. 


1829.]  ANNUAL   MEETING.      DONATIONS   TO   THE    SCHOOLS.  215 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

1829. — Meeting  at  Albany. — Bombay. — Additions  to  the  church. — Donations 
to  the  Schools. — Ceylon. — An  eclipse. — Discomfiture  of  the  Brahmuns. — 
China. — Bridgman  and  Abeel  embark. — Mediterranean. — Mr.  Anderson's 
agency. — Misunderstandingsremoved.— Plans  formed.— Intercourse  with  the 
Greek  government. — Schools  and  school  books. — Mr.  Bird  visits  Barbary. — 
American  Indians. — Numerous  conversions. — Sandwich  Islands. — Foreign- 
ers brought  under  law. — Visit  of  the  Vincennes. — Letter  from  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  the  king. — Mr.  Green  visits  the  Northwest  coast. 

The  twentieth  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Albany,  on  the  7th,  8th 
and  9tli  days  of  October.  William  Ropes,  Esq.  declining  re-election  as 
auditor,  John  Tappan,  Esq.  and  Mr.  Charles  Stoddard  were  chosen.  The 
receipts  for  the  financial  year  had  been  $106,928,26  ;  the  payments 
to  meet  current  expenses,  $92,533,13.  The  debt  was  reduced  to 
$7,784,58. 

The  late  reinforcement  enabled  the  mission  to  give  great- 
er extent  and  efficiency  to  every  department  6f  its  labors  ; 
and  there  seemed  to  be  a  better  state  of  feeling  in  all  classes  of  people 
around  them.  The  congregations  on  the  Sabbath  gradually  increased 
in  numbers  and  seriousness.  Three  persons  were  admitted  to  the  church 
in  April.  One  of  them,  of  Portuguese  descent,  had  begun  to  prepare 
himself  to  labor  as  an  assistant  to  the  mission ;  supporting  himself  mean- 
while, because  he  thought  it  would  be  wrong  to  live  on  the  sacred  funds 
of  the  mission,  while  his  ability  to  be  of  use  was  yet  doubtful. — The 
schools  increased.  At  the  annual  examination,  distinguished  English 
residents  were  gratified  and  surprised  at  the  progress  made  by  the  girls. 
Sir  John  Malcolm,  the  governor,  made  a  donation  of  300  rupees,  (about 
$130)  for  the  support  of  female  schools,  and  others  gave  1200  rupees 
more.  The  District  Committee  of  the  Society  for  promoting  Christian 
Knowledge  offered  to  support  six  female  schools  under  the  care  of  the 
mission.  This  raised  the  number  to  18.  The  superiority  of  the  mission 
schools  was  acknowledged  by  parents  and  children  of  all  classes,  and 
new  schools,  for  girls  as  well  as  boys,  were  earnestly  requested  in  dis- 
tant towns  and  villages. — The  health  of  Mr.  Graves  had  been  so  impair- 
ed by  the  climate,  that  he  was  advised  to  return  to  America  for  a  few 
years.  Unwilling  to  leave  India,  he  attempted  a  voyage  to  Ceylon  ; 
but  not  finding  a  passage  from  Cotym,  he  turned  aside  to  the  Neilgher- 
ry  Hills,  where  he  remained,  gradually  improving,  for  more  than  a  year. 
Of  the  Ceylon  Mission,  both  Mr.  "Woodward  and  Dr.  cj^ionMi^o.,. 
Scudder  were. obliged  to  spend  a  considerable  part  of  the  year  on  Neil- 
gherry  Hills,  for  the  recovery  of  their  health.  Owing  to  the  admirable 
system  with  which  the  affairs  of  the  mission  were  conducted,  and  the  aid 


216  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN    LOARU.  [1829. 

supplied  by  25  native  assistants,  no  department  of  labor  was  suspended. 
Mr.  Spaulding  found  time  to  visit  the  famous  pearl  fisheries  at  the  prop- 
er season,  where  he  spent  a  fortnight  usefully  in  distributing  tracts  and 
portions  of  Scripture,  and  in  giving  religious  instruction  to  men  of  all 
religions,  many  of  whom  were  native  Christians,  assembled  from  various 
parts  of  Ceylon  and  the  adjacent  continent.  In  another  tour,  twenty 
miles  or  more  east  of  the  mission  stations,  he  found  such  a  desire  for 
schools,  and  for  persons  to  reside  there  who  could  read  and  explain  the 
Bible,  that  he  left  two  native  readers  there  for  three  months,  hoping,  in 
the  end,  to  make  more  permanent  arrangements  for  their  benefit. — Eight 
persons  were  received  into  the  churches  during  the  year. 
The  Schools,  and  the  Thc  systcm  of  schools  was  steadily  accomplishing  its 
^"^'P'^-  work,  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  future  suc- 

cess. The  whole  number  under  instruction  was  3436.  Their  improved 
system  of  education  was  attracting  the  attention  of  all  orders  of  men. 
The  Seminary,  especially,  was  made  to  bear  powerfully  on  the  question, 
whether  the  Brahminical  religion  is  true.  The  Brahminical  systems  of 
geography  and  astronomy  are  parts  of  their  religion,  and  as  such,  claim 
infallibility,  and  if  they  are  overthrown,  the  whole  must  fall.  The  Brah- 
mun  cannot  admit  that  the  earth  is  a  sphere,  or  that  it  moves  ;  and  a 
slight  knowledge  of  geography  shows  that  many  of  the  mountains  and 
seas  mentioned  in  the  histories  of  their  gods,  have  no  existence.  Eclip- 
ses are  said  to  be  caused  by  two  monsters, — serpents,  they  are  sometimes 
called, — who  attempt  to  devour  the  sun  and  moon.  These  serpents 
were  doubtless  originally  intended  as  emblems  of  the  ascending  and  de- 
scending nodes,  called,  even  in  some  of  our  almanacs,  the  "  dragon's 
head"  and  "  dragon's  tail,"  near  which  alone  eclipses  can  take  place; 
but  modern  Brahmuns  teach,  that  they  are  actual  serpents,  or  monsters, 
Katoo  and  Rahoo ;  and  when  an  eclipse  occurs,  the  people  call  earnest- 
ly upon  the  gods,  to  deliver  the  endangered  luminary.  Still, strange  as 
it  may  seem,  their  learned  men  can  calculate  the  time  when  it  will 
please  Rahoo  to  seize  the  moon,  how  much  of  it  will  come  within  his 
grasp,  and  how  long  the  struggle  will  continue. 

Vesuvenather,  whose  ancestors,  for  nine  generations,  had  been  as- 
tronomers, and  who  was  the  most  learned  native  astronomer  in  the  re- 
gion, had  published  his  annual  almanac,  in  which  he  predicted  an  eclipse 
of  the  moon,  on  the  21st  of  March,  at  24  minutes  past  6,  P  M.,  which 
would  obscure  five  eighths  of  the  moon's  disc.  Accordinsf  to  calcula- 
tions  at  the  Seminary  on  European  principles,  it  was  to  commence  at 
9  minutes  past  6,  and  to  obscure  only  three  eighths  of  the  moon's  disc. 
There  was  adifference,  too,  of  24  minutes  in  the  duration  of  the  eclipse. 
Hearing  of  the  difference,  Vesuvenather,  assisted  by  his  brethren,  care- 
fully reviewed  his  calculations,  and  re-aflSrmed  their  correctness.  As  the 
time  drew  near,  a  leading  and  zealous  Brahmun  grew  deeply  interested 
in  the  affair,  and  ran  from  place  to  place,  calling  the  attention  of  the  peo- 
ple to  the  decisive  evidence  about  to  be  given,  of  the  superiority  of  their 
religion  over  Christianity.     The  evening  came.     At  6  o'clock,  Mr.  Poor 


1829.]  CHINA.       BRIDGMAN   AND   ABEEL    EMBARK.  217 

and  his  students,  the  Pandarum  and  his  friends  were  all  assembled.  The 
telescope  was  ready,  with  the  nicely'  regulated  watch,  and  all  convenient 
apparatus.  They  turned  to  the  east,  but  a  small  cloud  was  rising,  which 
threatened  to  conceal  the  object  of  their  anxiety.  At  9  minutes  past  6, 
the  cloud  was  still  there.  In  another  minute,  the  moon  appeared.  A 
small  spot  was  visible  on  her  northeastern  limb  ;  but  "  it  was  the  cloud 
— certainly  it  was  the  cloud."  In  two  minutes  more  the  cloud  was  gone; 
but  the  spot  had  grown,  and  the  eclipse  had  certainly  begun.  The  Pan- 
darum was  silent  for  a  while,  and  then  began  to  abuse  the  native  astron- 
omers for  "  imposing  upon  the  people."  Mr.  Poor  defended  his  acquaint- 
ance Vesuvenather,  on  the  ground, — which  a  believer  in  the  infallibility 
of  their  system  could  not  admit, — that  even  the  most  learned  men  are 
liable  to  mistakes.  He  then  led  the  way  to  his  school  room,  and  deliv- 
ered a  lecture  on  eclipses.  By  means  of  an  orrery,  putting  a  lamp  in 
the  place  of  the  sun,  he  showed  them  the  heavenly  bodies  as  they  had 
seen  them  at  sunset;  and  then,  extinguishing  all  the  lamps  but  that 
which  represented  the  sun,  they  saw  how  the  shadow  of  the  earth  eclipsed 
the  moon.  The  Pandarum  himself  was  gratified,  and  the  company  gen- 
erally expressed  their  delight,  at  seeing  the  two  great  serpents  changed 
into  two  shadows,  that  of  the  moon,  and  that  of  the  earth. — But  after 
all,  might  not  their  time-pieces  be  wrong,  and  the  native  astronomers 
right  ?  Two  other  tests  remained  :  the  mao;nitude  and  the  dmation  of 
the  eclipse.  These  were  watched  with  intense  interest ;  but  it  was  cer- 
tain that  less  than  half  of  the  moon  was  obscured,  and  that  the  duration 
was  just  what  had  been  predicted  at  the  Seminary.  The  Hindoo  system 
was  seen  to  be  incorrect.  There  could  be  no  doubt  about  it ;  and  there 
were  great  reasonings  among  them,  as  to  what  could  be  the  result.  A 
few  days  afterwards,  Dashiel,  one  of  the  students  at  the  Seminary,  call- 
ed on  Vesuvenather.  The  old  man  brought  forward  an  ancient  book, 
which  he  said  was  written  more  than  200  years  ago,  and  which  con- 
tained the  true  theory  of  eclipses.  He  said  he  had  long  been  acquainted 
with  that  theory,  and  knew  it  to  be  the  true  one.  Being  asked  why  he 
did  not  make  it  known  to  the  people,  and  especially  to  the  learned  in  the 
district,  he  replieil,  that  "  the  people  would  not  believe  it,  nor  could  they 
be  made  reatiily  to  understand  it." — Does  the  reader  ask,  what  was  the 
result  of  all  this  ?  Not  a  single  instance  of  conversion,  for  astronomical 
truth  cannot  change  the  heart ;  but  the  learned  were  compelled  to  regard 
and  treat  the  Seminary  and  the  mission  with  more  respect  than  former- 
ly ;  their  words  had  more  weight  with  people  of  every  class  ;  their 
preaching  had  better  access  to  the  minds  of  men  ;  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  too,  in  the  Brahmuns,  was  weakened,  and  in  every  way  it  was 
favorable  to  the  dissemination  and  candid  reception  of  that  truth  by  which 
the  heart  is  changed. 

A  new  mission  was  commenced  in  the  east.  The  Rev.  wisxi-n  to  china. 
Elijah  C.  Biidgman  sailed  from  New  York  for  Canton,  in  China,  in  the 
ship  Roman,  on  the  14th  of  October.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  Rev. 
David  Abeel,  missionary  of  the  American  Seamen's  Friend  Society  to 

28 


218  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1829. 

Seamen  in  Canton  and  its  vicinity.  Mr.  Abeel  had  received  an  ap- 
pointment as  a  missionary  of  the  Board,  if,  after  the  expiration  of  a 
year,  he  should  think  it  his  duty  to  become  a  missionary  to  the  Chinese. 
Their  passage  and  their  support  at  Canton  for  a  year  was  given  by  a 
merchant  at  New  York,  engaged  in  the  Canton  trade,  who  felt  a  deep 
interest  in  the  mission,  and  had  furnished  many  of  the  facts  and  argu- 
ments which  justified  its  commencement. 

Greece.  Mr.  Ander-  Thc  strugglc  of  thc  Grccks  for  independence  had  ex- 
'""''  ""'•  cited  a  lively  sympathy  throughout  the  Christian  world, 

and  especially  in  the  United  States.  American  soldiers  volunteered  to 
fight  the  battles  of  Greece ;  statesmen  lent  her  their  influence,  and  the 
rich  sent  food  and  raiment  to  her  suffering  people.  A  committee  of 
ladies  at  New  York  sent  liberal  supplies,  and  Mr.  King,  who  was  for- 
merly in  the  service  of  the  Board,  went  as  their  agent  to  distribute  them. 
The  churches  partook  of  the  general  enthusiasm,  and  felt  that  they 
must  now  supply  "  regenerated  Greece"  with  the  bread  of  life ;  but  the 
Board  could  not  safely  go  forward,  without  more  perfect  information. 
Plans  were  to  be  laid,  too,  for  the  conduct  of  missions  in  Syria  and  Asia 
Minor,  which  it  was  intended  soon  to  resume.  The  whole  missionary 
force  in  that  part  of  the  world,  except  Mr.  Temple,  was  now  together 
at  Malta,  and  could  easily  be  consulted.  Another  reason  was  decisive, 
for  sending;  an  ao;ent  from  the  Rooms  to  ihe  Mediterranean  without 
delay.  Messrs.  Gridley  and  Brewer,  it  will  be  recollected,  went  out 
unmarried.  By  misunderstanding  some  facts  and  imagining  others,  they 
came  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  Prudential  Committee  were  averse  to 
the  marriage  of  missionaries  generally,  and  had  contrived  and  managed 
to  send  them  out  single  by  unfair  means.  This  conclusion  seems  to 
have  been  formed  during  the  voyage,  and  on  their  arrival  was  commu- 
nicated to  the  American  and  some  of  the  English  missionaries  in  that 
part  of  the  world.  On  hearing  their  statements,  some  felt  that  dear 
friends  had  been  abused  ;  the  wives  of  the  missionaries  understood  that 
they  were  regarded  as  incumbrances  to  their  husbands ;  confidence  in 
the  Committee  was  impaired,  and  all  felt  that  a  false  principle  had 
been  adopted,  which  would  seriously  injure  the  cause  of  missions. 
It  was  indispensable  to  the  peace,  happiness  and  usefulness  of  the  mis- 
sion, that  these  matters  should  be  explained  more  perfectly  than  could 
well  be  done  by  writing  ;  and  from  the  known  character  of  the  breth- 
ren there,  and  their  demeanor  while  misinformed,  such  explanation 
was  evidently  practicable. 

Mr.  Anderson  was  therefore  directed,  near  the  close  of  the  last 
year,  to  proceed  first  to  Malta,  and  then  to  Greece.  He  arrived  at  Malta 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1829.  Here  he  remained  about  two  months. 
During  this  time,  the  mistakes  into  which  the  brethren  had  been  led 
were  satisfactorily  explained,  the  history  of  the  mission  carefully  re- 
viewed, and  principles  and  plans  for  future  operations  established.  In 
this  work,  valuable  aid  was  received  from  the  missionaries  of  the  prin- 
cipal English  societies.    He  then  left  Malta,  accompanied  by  the  Rev. 


1829.]        INTERCOURSE   WITH   THE   GOVERNMENT.      SCHOOLS,   ETC.  219 

Eli  Smith,  anil  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Robertson,  an  American  Episcopalian 
missionary,  for  the  Ionian  Islands.  Havins^  visited  the  most  important 
places  in  the  Morea  and  the  principal  Greek  Islands,  and  met  Mr.  King 
at  Egina,  he  proceeded  to  Smyrna,  and  then  returned  by  Malta  to  the 
United  States.  The  results  of  his  investigations  in  Greece  were  pub- 
lished in  a  volume,  which  probably  gives  the  best  view  anywhere  ex- 
tant, of  the  intellectual,  moral  and  religious  condition  and  prospects  of 
Greece,  as  they  then  were. 

In  obedience  to  his  instructions,  Mr.  Anderson  had  intercourse  wuh  the 
several  interviews  and  some  written  correspondence  with  euverumem. 
the  Count  Capo  d'Istrias,  then  President  of  Greece.  The  President 
learned,  with  apparent  satisfaction,  the  plans  of  the  Board  for  the  es- 
tablishment and  superintendence  of  schools,  the  supply  of  books,  and 
the  introduction  of  Scripture  lessons.  He  intimated  that  the  Board 
might  proceed  according  to  those  plans,  without  hinderance  from  the 
government.  He  preferred,  however,  as  more  befitting  the  dignity  of 
Greece,  to  receive  a  loan  from  the  Board,  to  be  deposited  in  the  national 
bank  of  Greece,  and  expended  in  executing  a  plan  for  general  education 
which  he  had  devised.  Such  a  loan  he  had  solicited  from  the  Society 
for  Elementary  Instruction  at  Paris,  and  now  solicited  from  the  friends 
of  Greece  in  America.  If  this  loan  should  be  granted,  the  superin- 
tendents of  schools  appointed  by  the  Board,  being  suitable  men,  might 
receive  similar  appointments  from  the  Greek  government  also,  and 
statedly  report  the  condition  of  the  schools  to  both.  This  plan  Mr. 
Anderson  could  only  refer  to  the  Prudential  Committee.  It  was  never 
executed,  as  the  Board  did  not  feel  authorized  to  loan  funds  to  nations. 

In  all  the  nations  bordering  upon  the  Mediterranean,  sd.ooh  and  books. 
there  was  found  to  be  almost  an  entire  destitution  of  school  books  in 
the  languages  spoken  by  the  people.  In  the  common  schools  in  Greece, 
on  the  old  system,  the  course  of  study  was  confined  to  a  very  small 
spelling  book,  a  collection  of  prayers  and  the  Psalter,  all  in  ancient 
Greek,  which  none  of  the  children  and  few  of  the  teachers  understood. 
Even  of  these,  no  school  had  an  adequate  supply,  and  many  had  no 
printed  books  of  any  kind.  The  few  Lancasterian  schools  which 
foreign  benevolence  had  planted,  had  a  partial  supply  of  books  which 
the  children  could  understand.  The  most  uneducated  Greeks  saw  the 
difference  between  the  two  systems,  and  in  ordinary  conversation  called 
those  upon  the  old  system  ps-eudoscholeia,  false  schools.  The  missiona- 
ries earnestly  recommended  the  publication  of  a  series  of  elementary 
school  books,  for  the  nations  which  use  the  Greek,  Armeno-Turkish  and 
Arabic  languages ;  the  books  to  be  well  seasoned  with  moral  and  religious 
truth.  The  work  was  commenced,  and  has  been  carried  on  successfiilly. 
The  Board  has  furnished,  in  Modern  Greek,  besides  spelling  and  read- 
ing books,  elementary  works  on  arithmetic,  grammar,  geography,  his- 
tory, and  the  evidences  of  Christianity  ;  several  important  school  books 
have  been  published  in  the  Armenian  and  Arabic;  other  societies  have 
rendered  important  aid  by  their  own  publications  ;  and  the  assortment 


220  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1829. 

of  good  school  books  in  these  languages  is  now  tolerably  complete.  If 
any  one  would  estimate  correctly  the  value  of  this  work,  let  him  con- 
sider what  our  condition  would  be,  if  we  had  but  few  schools  ;  if  a 
great  part  of  our  schools  had  no  printed  books,  and  the  others  only  a 
few  copies  each  of  a  little  spelling  book,  a  little  prayer  book  and  the 
Psalms,  all  in  Latin,  while  scarcely  a  single  teacher  and  not  a  single 
learner  understood  any  language  but  the  English. 
Plan  of  r.uure  labors.  A  carcful  rcvicw  of  the  whole  subject,  in  the  light  of 

Scripture,  history  and  experience,  led  to  some  change  of  views  with 
respect  to  the  proper  mode  of  conducting  their  strictly  religious  efforts. 
It  was  their  unanimous  opinion,  that  the  time  for  controversy  had  not 
come.  The  people  had  neither  knowledge  enough  to  see  the  force  of 
their  arguments,  nor  conscience  enough  to  yield  to  the  truth  when 
proved  to  them.  It  was  resolved,  therefore,  in  future  to  labor  for  the 
removal  of  these  obstacles  ;  for  the  increase  of  knowledge  and  con- 
science ;  to  promote  education  ;  to  inculcate  saving  truth  ;  to  promote 
piety  ;  and  to  leave  forms  and  ceremonies,  however  vain  and  even  hurt- 
ful, to  be  disposed  of  by  the  people  themselves,  when  they  should  be- 
come Christians  at  heart.  Experience  has  shown  that  they  decided 
wisely. 

By  the  mission  itself,  little  could  be  done  this  year  but  to  study,  print 
and  explore.  Study  and  printing  were  carried  on  at  Malta,  with  good 
success,  by  the  aid  of  Carabet,  Wortabet,  and  Petrokokino.  And  in 
April,  all  arrangements  for  a  companion  having  failed,  Mr.  Bird  em- 
barked alone,  to  explore  the  Barbary  States,  on  the  northern  coast  of 
Africa.  He  was  absent  nearly  four  months,  and  found  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  a  missionary  of  the  right  character  might  be  useful  there. 
Indian  Missions.  Amoug  thc  Cherokces,  Chickasaws,  Choctavvs,  and  at 

Mackinaw,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  was  attended  with  unusual  suc- 
cess. At  Brainerd,  six  natives  were  admitted  to  the  church  in  May. 
In  July,  there  were  ten  more  who  had  hope  of  their  own  piety,  most  of 
whom  appeared  to  be  truly  penitent.  At  Haweis,  in  August,  12  per- 
sons had  been  admitted  within  a  year,  and  there  were  14  others  appa- 
rently pious.  At  Carmel,  in  September,  five  were  admitted,  and  favor- 
able hopes  were  entertained  of  others.  There  were  other  admissions 
Avithin  the  year  at  some  of  the  stations.  Converts  are  mentioned  at 
Willstown,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  nation. 

Ee-ivais among  ihe  Anioug  thc  Chickasaws,  an  unusually  interesting  meet- 
chicii..sau5.  jj^^^  Qj,  u  j,g]igiQys  council,"  was  held  at  Tokshish,  on  the 

3d,  4th,  5th  and  6th  days  of  July.  "  In  the  evening,"  says  Mr.  Holmes, 
"  a  considerable  number  had  arrived,  and  among  them  some  who  had 
come  60  miles.  At  early  candle  light,  our  exercises  commenced.  As 
we  have  no  church  edifice,  we  assembled  in  the  woods  under  an  arbor. 
We  had  a  plain  pulpit  and  seats  sufficient  for  nearly  a  thousand  people. 
Mr.  Blair  and  Mr.  Adams  were  with  us  at  the  commencement.  On 
Friday  morning  Messrs.  WilHams,  Wood,  and  Caldwell  arrived  from 
the  Choctaw  nation.    Also  Major  Levi  Colbert,  Capt.  Sealy,  and  Capt. 


1829.]  REVIVAL   AMONG   THE   CHOCTAWS.  221 

McGilvery — three  of  our  principal  chiefs — besides  several  other  men  of 
distinction  with  their  families.  In  the  evening  Mr.  Byington  came, 
with  two  of  the  Choctaw  converts,  Tahoka  and  a  neighbor.  On  Satur- 
day the  session  convened,  and  seven  persons  were  received  into  the 
church,  three  of  whom  were  from  the  neighborhood  of  Martyn.  Four 
were  Chickasaws  and  three  black  people.  On  Sabbath  the  memorials 
of  Christ's  sufferings  and  death  were  set  out  in  the  view  of  the  poor 
perishing  heathen,  and  nearly  a  hundred  of  his  professed  follovvers  were 
permitted  to  celebrate  his  dying  love.  Mr.  I3yington  preached  fre- 
quently and  was  well  understood.  Tahoka  exhorted  and  prayed  with 
the  greatest  fervency,  and  his  labors  w^ere  evidently  blessed  of  God. 
On  Sabbath  afternoon,  all  who  were  in  an  anxious  state  of  mind  were 
asked  to  come  ibrward  and  occupy  seats  provided  for  the  purpose  in 
front  of  the  pulpit.  About  30  presented  themselves,  the  majority  of 
whom  were  black  people.  The  next  morning  we  assembled  at  9 
o'clock  for  our  final  meeting.  A  considerable  number  more  came  for- 
ward to  the  anxious  seats.  Among  the  number  of  inquirers  we  counted 
15  Chickasaws.  We  continued  together  two  hours,  during  which  time 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  appeared  especially  near.  The  anxious  then 
arose,  and  arranged  themselves  in  a  line:  opposite  to  them  and  about 
five  yards  distant,  our  church,  now  consisting  of  above  70  members, 
took  their  stand.  The  whole  was  concluded  with  prayer.  Since  the 
meetino:  several  new  cases  of  awakening:;  have  come  to  our  knowledge.'* 
This  awakening  continued  to  the  end  of  the  year,  and  other  meetings 
were  held,  of  equal  interest. 

Among  the  Choctaws,  the  awakening  which  com-  Revival  among  ih« 
menced  the  previous  year,  continued,  with  increasing  in-  '-'''•'"''^^■ 
terest  and  power.  In  February,  Mr.  Williams,  writing  from  Ai-ik-hun- 
nuh,  mentioned  six  recent  converts,  who  w^ere  active  in  promoting 
religion,  and  added :  "  Our  meetings  are  very  interesting.  After  the 
public  preaching  and  an  intermission,  the  natives  continue  to  sing  and 
pray  for  some  hours,  and  are  then  loth  to  leave  the  place.  As  soon 
as  one  has  spoken  and  prayed,  another  rises  up,  exhorts,  and  then, 
prostrate  before  the  great  Jehovah,  he  pours  out  his  soul  in  prayer.  A 
few  other  individuals,  chiefly  women,  are  somewhat  affected  with  a 
sense  of  sin,  and  have  expressed  their  desire  of  an  interest  in  the  pray- 
ers of  Christians,  while  others  ridicule  and  oppose.  Our  old  friend, 
Tunnapinchuffa,  thinks  he  has  evidence  that  God  heareth  prayer.  He 
feels  that  he  need  no  longer  stand  alone  as  heretofore.  He  is  happy. 
A  letter  from  Elliot,  dated  about  the  20th  ult.,  states  that  eight  mem- 
bers of  that  family  attend  the  inquiry  meetings.  Two  of  the  principal 
chiefs  of  I  he  nation  appear  to  be  decidedly  pious." 

At  a  meeting  in  the  wilderness,  in  June,  about  14  miles  from  May- 
hew,  20  persons  were  admitted  to  the  church.  Among  them  was  Col. 
David  Folsom,  the  senior  of  the  three  highest  chiefs,  and  two  of  his 
brothers. 

Mr.  Byington  wrote,  August  21 :  "On  Monday  morning,  the  lOtb 


222  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1829. 

of  August,  about  ten  of  us,  Choctaws  and  missionaries,  started  from 
Goshen.  On  Thursday  evening  at  candle-light,  the  '  Council  about  the 
gospel'  opened  under  a  circular  bower,  which  had  an  open  area  in  the 
centre.  Col.  Garland,  the  chief,  first  spoke  to  his  people,  and  then 
called  the  Choctaws  from  this  part  of  the  nation  and  all  the  missiona- 
ries together.  We  stood  up  in  a  rank,  and  all  his  captains  and  warriors 
and  women  and  children  came  and  took  our  hands.  Soon  after  this, 
all  were  seated  under  and  around  the  bower.  We  speakers  stood  in 
the  centre,  under  a  small  arbor.  Col.  Folsorathen  spoke,  and  requested 
oue  of  the  missionaries  from  his  own  district  to  pray  and  to  speak. 
There  were  probably  500  Choctaws  present.  On  the  next  day  the 
gospel  was  preached  again.  Several  spoke.  Col.  F.  was  the  princi- 
pal speaker  on  the  occasion,  and  I  know  of  no  one  who  can  speak  to 
the  Choctaws  respecting  the  gospel  with  so  much  effect.  At  or  near 
night.  Col.  Garland  intimated  a  wish  to  have  the  anxious  seats  placed 
before  the  people.  This  was  done.  The  chief  and  four  others  soon 
came  forward,  when  a  shower  of  rain  constrained  us  to  break  up.  On 
the  next  day  the  congregation  was  very  solemn  and  still,  more  came 
forward  and  more  spoke.  On  the  Sabbath  we  had  a  peculiar  day.  In 
the  afternoon  the  anxious  persons  were  separated  from  the  rest  and 
stood  up  in  a  rank  ;  when,  on  their  names  being  taken,  the  whole  num- 
ber was  found  to  be  250.  After  this,  the  members  of  the  church  who 
were  present  sung  a  hymn,  and  a  prayer  was  offered.  There  w-as 
preaching  again  Sabbath  evening,  and  about  20  more  went  forward  to 
the  anxious  seats,  making  270  in  all.  These  were  great  days  of  God's 
power.  Many  wept  and  sighed  during  prayer.  Some  spent  the  night 
in  singing  and  praying.  Some  that  I  heard  of,  did  not  eat  for  three  days, 
nor  did  they  wish  to.  One  captain  said  in  a  speech,  "  We  had  better 
stay  here  till  the  flesh  dries  to  our  bones,  than  go  away  without  the 
gospel  in  the  heart." 

In  September  he  wrote  again,  of  another  meeting  : — "  Ten  members 
of  the  church,  including  the  three  preachers  in  this  part  of  the  nation, 
were  chosen  as  a  committee  to  examine  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
church  ;  of  which  committee  Mr.  Williams  was  chosen  clerk.  We  ad- 
mitted seven  captains,  24  other  persons  of  Choctaw  descent,  one  white 
man,  who  was  then  in  connection  with  a  Methodist  church,  and  a  colored 
woman  ;  in  all  33.  We  examined  and  approved  of  three  other  persons, 
but  they  were  absent  at  the  time  the  ordinance  was  administered,  and 
were  not  received.  Fifty-four  persons  came  forward  as  anxious  inquir- 
ers, and  100  sat  together  at  the  Lord's  table.  We  were  under  a  bower ; 
the  new  candidates  sitting  in  a  row,  the  members  of  the  church  sitting 
over  against  them.  The  subject  of  their  admission  was  explained  to 
them.  The  confession  of  faith  and  covenant  was  read  in  Choctaw,  and 
a  prayer  was  offered.  The  new  candidates  arose  and  sung  a  hymn  simi- 
lar in  thought  to  Montgomery's  '  People  of  the  Living  God.'  The 
church  heard  this  standing,  and  then  replied  in  another  hymn.  During 
the  singing  of  this  last,  Mr.  Kingsbury  and  a  few  others,  members  of 


1829.]  CHOCTAWS.      NUMEROUS   CONVERSIONS.  223 

the  church  committee,  passed  along  and  took  the  new  brothers  and 
sisters  all  by  the  hand.  Then  brother  Cushman  and  Major  Craven  led 
up  the  candidates,  who  kneeled  and  were  baptized.  During  this  scene 
many  sobbed.  Some  of  the  candidates  were  greatly  overcome.  After 
this,  the  bread  was  broken  and  distributed ;  and  after  this,  the  cup.  It 
was  a  scene  I  ara  unable  to  describe." 

On  the  15th  of  November,  29  Choctaws  were  admitted  to  the  church, 
and  sat  down  with  about  50  of  their  countrymen,  and  many  others,  at 
the  Lord's  table.  The  church  now  contained,  besides  the  missionaries, 
102  members,  of  whom  84  were  Choctaws.  Many  others  appeared  to 
be  truly  converted  to  God ;  but  it  was  thought  inexpedient  to  admit 
them,  till  time  should  test  the  genuineness  of  their  piety.  The  change 
was  great  throughout  the  nation.  As  early  as  June,  the  Methodists, 
who  labored  principally  in  one  district,  claimed  1,000  as  members  of 
their  society;  that  is,  as  persons,  "  having  the  form  and  seeking  the 
power  of  godliness."  Toward  the  close  of  the  year,  Mr.  Wright  had 
the  names  of  more  than  600  in  the  southern  districts,  who  professed  to 
be  anxiously  seeking  the  right  way.  It  was  supposed  that  there  were 
3,000  anxious  inquirers  in  the  nation.  More  than  2,000  had  begun  to  pray. 

Some  time  this  year,  or  near  the  close  of  the  last,  the  F^.i.ytery  formed. 
ordained  missionaries  to  the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws,  and  the  churches 
under  their  care,  had  formed  themselves  into  a  Presbytery,  and  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  in  May,  had  erected  the  new  Synod 
of  Mississippi.  This  Synod  held  its  first  meeting  at  Mayhew,  on  the 
second  Wednesday  in  November.  The  Rev.  George  Potts  and  Rev. 
Benjamin  Chase  were  appointed  a  committee,  to  give  an  account  of 
the  religious  state  of  the  Choctaws,  as  exhibited  while  they  were  there. 
They  speak  most  particularly  of  a  meeting  held  about  12  miles  from 
Mayhew.     They  say : 

"  On  Sabbath  morning  a  meeting  of  the  natives  themselves  was 
held,  and  several  addresses,  by  different  pious  individuals  among  them, 
were  successively  made.  Here  we  felt  the  power  of  "  grace  and  truth." 
From  what  was  gathered  through  an  interpreter,  as  to  the  purport  of 
the  several  addresses,  we  discovered  that  the  burden  of  them  was  the 
wonderful  work  of  God.  One  spoke  to  the  assembly  of  what  they  had 
been,  and  what  he  had  been,  and  drew  a  vivid  contrast,  and  gave  the 
praise  to  God.  Another,  a  brother  of  the  former,  in  an  address,  which, 
for  fluency  and  animation,  was  scarcely  to  be  excelled,  spoke  of  the 
dangers  of  backsliding.  He  became  pale  with  his  earnestness.  The 
greatest  simplicity  of  truth  was  preserved  by  these  and  the  other  speak- 
ers. And  in  prayer,  could  you  see  the  lowly  abasement,  the  suppressed 
voice,  the  humble  earnestness,  with  which  they  addressed  the  throne  of 
grace,  you  would  have  said,  although  ignorant  of  the  language  in  which 
they  spoke,  that  there  had  indeed  been  some  mighty  influence  exerted 
to  produce  such  eflfects  upon  Indian  character.  We  assembled  in  the 
afternoon  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.     Previously  to  the  baptisms,  of  which  there  were  27, 


224  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1829. 

the  nature  of  the  ordinance  was  explained,  and  the  usual  questions  pro- 
posed to  the  candidates,  who  had  all  been  for  some  months  on  probation. 
They  manifested  the  deepest  reverence  and  feeling,  when  baptized. 
Among  the  number  were  very  aged  persons,  with  some  of  whom  we 
had  previously  conversed  through  an  interpreter,  and  found  them  all  en- 
tertaining the  same  simple,  but  correct  views  of  the  system  of  grace. 
Great  care  has  been  exercised  to  prevent  the  admission  of  any  to  the 
church,  but  such  as  give  good  evidence  of  a  real  change  of  character." 
Heviv»iatMac»inaw.  At  Mackiuavv,  the  revival  which  commenced  near  the 
close  of  the  last  year,  continued  through  the  winter  and  spring.  As  the 
result,  33  were  added  to  the  church  within  the  year,  and  10  or  12  others 
appeared  to  have  become  penitent  for  sin.  The  church  now  contained 
52  members — 25  of  Indian  descent  and  27  whites — exclusive  of  the  mis- 
sion family.  The  influence  of  the  means  of  grace  upon  the  traders,  who 
spent  a  great  part  of  the  year  far  to  the  north  and  west,  was  remarka- 
ble. Two  of  them,  while  far  from  the  resorts  of  civilized  men,  kept  a 
certain  Sabbath  together  as  a  day  of  fasting,  and  at  its  close,  subscribed 
a  solemn  covenant  thenceforth  to  be  servants  of  God,  Other  instances 
of  conversion  occurred  in  the  depths  of  the  wilderness.  During  their  an- 
nual visit  to  Mackinaw,  the  principal  traders  were  constant  and  serious 
attendants  on  divine  worship  ;  and  some  were  anxious  that  a  missionary 
should  accompany  them  on  their  distant  excursions. 

At  Green  Bay,  the  Rev.  Jesse  Miner  died  on  the  22d  of  March. 
Since  his  arrival,  27  had  been  admitted  to  the  church,  the  greater  part 
of  them  the  present  year.  There  was  some  seriousness  also  at  several  of 
the  smaller  stations. 

The  number  of  native  members  of  the  mission  churches  among  the 
Indians,  as  stated  in  the  annual  report  in  October,  was  556. 
Afflictive  events.  Amidst  tliis  gcncral  prosperity,  there  were  some  afflic- 

tive events,  Mr.  Pixley  was  obliged  to  leave  Neosho  and  the  Osages, 
by  a  difficulty  with  the  U.  S.  Agent.  It  is  not  known  that  Mr,  Pixley 
was  in  fault.  He  still  had  the  entire  confidence  of  his  fellow  laborers. 
The  agent  was  soon  after  removed  from  office.  The  death  of  Mr,  Miner 
has  been  mentioned.  Mrs,  Fernal,  at  Brainerd,  died  in  October,  and  her 
husband  found  it  necessary  to  leave  the  service  of  the  Board,  Mr,  Da- 
vid Brown  died  at  Creek  Path,  on  the  15th  of  September.  He  had  re- 
tired from  public  business,  and  was  engaged  in  study,  preparing  for  the 
ministry.  He  was  the  fifth  of  that  family  who  died  in  the  triumphs  of 
Christian  faith,  in  consequence  of  the  establishment  of  the  mission  at 
Brainerd, 

Of  the  mission  among  the  Cherokees  of  the  Arkansas,  the  Rev,  Al- 
fred Finney  died  on  the  13th  of  June.  He  was  the  senior  member  of  the 
mission,  and  for  several  years,  till  released  at  his  own  earnest  request,  its 
superintendent.  His  talents  and  education  were  highly  respectable,  and 
his  associates  gave  decided  testimony  to  his  piety  and  worth.  Mrs. 
Wisner  died  in  August,  having  rendered  cheerful  and  valuable  assistance 
in  missionary  labors  for  nine  years. 


1829.]     SANDWICH  ISLANDS.      FOREIGNERS  BROUGHT  UNDER  THE  LAW.       225 

This  year  was  spent,  by  this  division  of  the  Cherokees,  Arkansas  MiMioa 
in  removing  to  their  new  country.  The  school  at  Dwight  '^''■°""- 
was  continued  through  the  winter,  and  then  abandoned.  A  new  sta- 
tion was  selected,  to  bear  the  same  name,  on  the  western  bank  of  the 
Salisa,  about  12  miles  from  its  junction  with  the  Arkansas,  which  it  en- 
ters from  the  north.  Fairfield,  another  station,  was  opened  under  the 
care  of  Dr.  Palmer,  who  commenced  a  school,  with  12  pupils,  in  the 
autumn.  This  school  was  opened  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  people, 
who  contributed  liberally  towards  the  support  of  their  children  while 
there. 

At  the  Sandwich  Islands,  the  history  of  this  year  was  sandwici.  island,. 
much  like  that  of  the  last.  Everywhere,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
was  attended  by  crowds  of  serious  hearers,  and  at  most  of  the  stations 
there  were  seasons  of  special  interest.  On  Kauai,  there  was  a  season  of 
unusual  awakening  about  the  middle  of  the  year.  Kaikioeva,  the  gov- 
ernor, and  six  others,  were  added  to  the  church.  At  Honolulu,  49  were 
admitted  during  the  year,  and  the  number  of  native  members  at  its  close 
was  74.  At  Lahaina,  23  were  admitted  during  the  year,  and  at  Kailua, 
37,  one  of  whom  was  Kuakini,  the  governor  of  Hawaii.  The  whole 
number  of  native  members  at  all  the  stations,  at  the  close  of  the  year, 
was  185,  of  whom  117  had  been  admitted  during  the  year  ;  and  there 
were  39  others,  who  had  been  propounded  for  admission.  Besides  these, 
the  number  of  those  who  gave  some  evidence  of  piety  was  large,  and 
those  who  had  covenanted  to  break  off  from  their  old  immoral  practices 
and  obey  the  gospel,  amounted  to  thousands.  At  Kailua  and  Kaaw-aloa 
especially,  during  almost  the  whole  year,  the  missionaries  and  their  wives 
were  thronged  with  anxious  inquirers  after  the  way  of  life.  Facts  of 
daily  occurrence  in  every  part  of  the  Islands  showed,  that  this  increased 
attentiveness  to  religion,  unenlightened  and  superficial  as  it  generally 
was,  brought  with  it  a  vast  increase  of  honesty,  and  decrease  of  every 
vice.  By  the  best  accounts  that  could  be  obtained  of  the  schools,  the 
number  of  learners  was  found  to  be  39,208.  Nearly  one  fourth  of  these 
could  write  legibly  on  the  slate. 

On  the  7th  of  October,  the  king  issued  a  proclama-  i  a^v.  enacted  md 
lion,  in  his  own  name,  and  that  of  Kaahumanu  and  ten  °''''"""'- 
other  of  the  highest  chiefs,  in  which  he  declared  that  the  laws  of  his 
country  forbade  murder,  theft,  licentiousness,  retailing  ardent  spirits, 
Sabbath-breaking  and  gambling  ;  and  that  these  laws  Vt'ere  in  force 
against  foreigners  residing  at  the  Islands,  as  well  as  his  own  people. 
This  decision  was  as  bold  as  it  was  just.  English  and  American  resi- 
dents and  visitors  habitually  threatened  the  chiefs  with  the  vengeance  of 
their  respective  governments,  if  any  of  them  should  be  punished  for  vio- 
lating the  laws  of  the  kingdom.  The  English  Consul  had  threatened 
them  with  the  vengeance  of  Great  Britain,  if  they  should  presume  to 
make  la^vs  at  all,  without  first  transmitting  them  to  England,  and  ob- 
taining the  sanction  of  the  king.  It  was  currently  reported  and  believed 
at  the  Islands,  that  he  had  boasted  that  he  had  500  men  at  his  command  ; 

29 


226  HISTORY   OF   THE  AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1829. 

and  that  he  had  threatened  to  make  war  on  the  chiefs,  depose  the  re- 
gent, remove  the  present  governors  of  the  islands,  appoint  others  in  their 
places,  take  possession  of  the  forts,  and  take  the  king  and  his  sister  into 
custody.  But  the  regent  and  her  advisers  were  not  to  be  thus  overawed  ; 
and,  perhaps,  such  threats  served  to  show  them  the  more  plainly,  how 
necessary  it  was  to  govern  all  persons  found  within  their  jurisdiction. 
Visit 01  the  viucennes.  Nor  wcrcthcy  long  without  powcrful  support.  The 
American  sloop  of  war  Vincennes,  which  had  touched  at  Hilo,  arrived 
at  Honolulu  on  the  14th  of  October,  one  week  after  the  date  of  the  pro- 
clamation. The  next  day,  Capt.  Finch,  her  commander,  had  an  inter- 
view with  the  king  and  chiefs.  He  first  presented  and  read  an  address 
from  himself  to  the  king,  in  which  he  introduced  himself  as  the  bearer  of 
a  letter  and  presents  from  the  President  of  the  United  States.  He  said, 
"  That  the  genuineness  of  the  letter  may  not  be  qu  estioned, — and  to  make 
it  the  more  honorable  to  yourself,  he  [the  President]  has  despatched  a 
ship  of  war  for  this  and  other  purposes."  After  the  address,  he  present- 
ed, in  the  name  of  his  government,  a  pair  of  globes  and  a  map  of  the 
United  States  to  the  king ;  a  silver  vase,  with  her  name  and  the  arms  of 
the  United  States  upon  it,  to  the  regent  ;  two  silver  goblets  with  similar 
engravings  to  the  princess ;  and  a  map  of  the  world  each,  to  Boki  and 
Kuakini.  The  letter  of  which  Capt.  Finch  was  the  bearer,  which,  as 
well  as  his  address,  was  presented  both  in  English  and  Hawaiian,  was 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  by  the  direction  of  the  President.  After 
congratulating  the  king  on  the  progress  of  civilization  and  religion  in 
his  dominions,  and  recommending  earnest  attention  to  "  the  true  religion 
— the  religion  of  the  Christian's  Bible,"  it  proceeds  to  say  :  "The  Presi- 
dent also  anxiously  hopes  that  peace  and  kindness  and  justice  will  pre- 
vail between  your  people  and  those  citizens  of  the  United  States  who 
visit  your  islands,  and  that  the  regulations  of  your  government  will  be 
such  as  to  enforce  them  upon  all.  Our  citizens  Vvho  violate  your  laws, 
or  interfere  with  your  regulations,  violate  at  the  same  time  their  duty  to 
their  own  government  and  country,  and  merit  censure  and  punishment. 
We  have  heard  with  pain  that  this  has  sometim  s  been  the  case  ;  and  we 
have  sought  to  know  and  to  punish  those  who  are  guilty."  The  letter 
then  bespeaks  favor  and  protection  for  American  citizens  who  conduct 
with  propriety,  and  especially  for  tlie  missionaries,  in  whom  it  expresses 
entire  confidence. 

Here  was  the  most  ample  sanction  which  the  American  government 
could  give,  to  the  ground  taken  by  the  proclamation  issued  the  previous 
week.  The  reader  will  naturally  snppose  that  the  Vincennes  was  sent 
on  this  mission,  for  the  special  purpose  of  repairing  the  mischief  done  by 
the  Dolphin.  He  will  remember,  too,  that  the  President  had  "  heard/' 
by  a  formal  complaint,  of  the  misconduct  of  Lieut.  Percival,  and  had 
*'  sought,"  by  a  court  of  inquiry,  to  "  know"  whether  he  was  "  guilty." 
He  will  infer,  too,  that  Lieut,  Percival  was  the  man,  or  one  of«the  men, 
of  whose  conduct  the  President  had  "heard  with  pain,"  and  whom  he 
had  "  sought  to  know  and  punish."     Whether  he  was  actually  punished, 


1829.]  NORTHWEST   COAST   EXPLORED.  227 

the  letter  does  not  state  ;  but  it  was  said  at  the  islands,  on  the  authority 
of  an  officer  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  that  he  had  been  reprimanded  by  the 
President. 

The  Vincennes  took  on  board  several  of  the  principal  chiefs,  and 
visited  Lahaina,  Kailua  and  Kaawaloa,  and  after  a  stay  of  about  two 
months,  returned,  laden  with  the  thanks  of  the  mission  and  the  affec- 
tionate remembrance  of  all  good  men  with  whom  she  had  had  inter- 
course. 

The  death  of  two  chiefs  demands  notice.  Piia,  or  Opiia,  Death  orpuaand 
the  sister  of  Kaahuraanu,  "had  permission  to  depart  in  ^°^'' 
peace,"  on  the  12th  of  September.  She  was  one  of  the  earliest,  most 
constant  and  most  efficient  friends  of  the  mission.  Her  confidence  in  the 
Redeemer  appeared  firm  to  the  last,  and  enabled  her  to  triumph  over  the 
terrors  of  death.  Very  different  were  the  career  and  end  of  Boki,  Gov- 
ernor of  Oahu,  and  brother  of  Kalaimoku.  Of  moderate  abilities  and 
easy  disposition,  he  had  been  raised  beyond  his  proper  level  by  his  con- 
nections, and  in  consequence  of  his  visit  to  England.  He  was  more  be- 
set and  led  away  by  the  arts  and  temptations  of  foreigners,  than  any 
other  chief  of  his  standing.  They  seem  to  have  persuaded  him,  that  being 
steward  of  the  king's  household,  he  had  a  right  to  the  regency,  and  to 
have  engaged  him  in  a  deliberate  plan  for  usurping  it.  Towards  the 
close  of  this  year,  he  engaged  in  a  rash  adventure  to  procure  sandal 
wood  from  a  distant  islam  ,  by  which  he  expected  to  become  suddenly 
and  immensely  rich.  He  took  two  vessels,  with  numerous  crews,  but  one 
of  which  ever  returned.  That  on  board  of  which  he  sailed,  was  proba- 
bly blown  up  or  foundered  at  sea,  and  every  soul  on  board  perished. 

The  Rev.  J.  S.  Green,  according  to  his  instructions,  left  n.  w.  coast  explored. 
Honolulu  in  the  brig  Volunteer,  Capt.  Taylor,February  13,  for  the  North- 
west coast  of  America.  He  explored  the  coast  and  collected  informa- 
tion concerning  its  inhabitants,  so  far  as  the  course  of  the  vessel  afforded 
opportunity,  from  Norfolk  Sound  to  California  ;  but  he  found  no  place 
in  which  it  appeared,  either  to  himself,  or  his  brethren  at  the  Islands,  or 
the  Prudential  Committee,  expedient  to  establish  a  mission.  The  inhabit- 
ants were  found  to  be  few,  access  to  them  difficult  and  dangerous,  and 
the  prospect  of  usefulness  but  small.  From  reports  which  appeared 
worthy  of  confidence,  he  judged  that  more  favorable  stations  might  be 
found  in  the  interior,  on  the  Columbia  River, — a  conclusion  which  later 
investigations  have  confirmed.  In  California,  he  saw  what  Roman  Cath- 
olic missions,  conducted  on  an  extensive  scale,  for  a  long  time,  and  un- 
disturbed, had  done  for  a  savage  people.  They  had  taught  them  some 
of  the  forms  of  religion,  without  improving  their  intellects,  their  morals 
or  their  habits  of  life. 


228  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

1830. — Meeting  at  Boston. — Georgia  and  the  Cherokeeg. — Bombay. — Evi- 
dence of  progress. — Oriental  Cliristian  Spectator. — Conversions. — Ceylon. 
— The  t>eminary. — Catechists  requested  for  tlie  continent.— Another  Kevi- 
val. — China. — Efi'orts  for  its  conversion. — Dr.  Morrison. — American  mission 
commenced. — Mediterranean. — Mr.  Temple  returns. — Smith  and  Dwight 
explore  Armenia. — Schools  in  Greece. — Dr.  Korck. — Mr.  King  again  enters 
the  service  of  the  Board. — Station  at  Beirut  resumed. — Indian  missions. — 
Conversions  among  the  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  Choctavvs,  Creeks,  at  Mack- 
inaw, among  the  New  York  Indians. — Brainerd  burnt — Meeting  house  at 
Alleghany  burnt. — Negotiations  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians. — Pernicious 
effects. — Influx  of  whisky. — Secretary  of  War  interferes. — Sandwich  Isl- 
ands.— General  prosperity. — Health  station  at  Wainea. — Rehiforcenient. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Boston,  on  the  7th,  8th  and  9th  days 
of  October.  The  most  interesting  portion  of  its  proceedings  related  to 
the  proposed  removal  of  the  Cherokees,  Creeks,  Chickasaws  and  Choc- 
taws  across  the  Mississippi. 

Georgia  and  the  Cher-       The  Statc  of  Georgla  originally  claimed,  under  a  char- 
"■""■  ter  from  the  king  of  England,  all  the  territory  between  its 

present  western  boundary  and  the  Mississippi,  Large  tracts  of  land  in 
the  western  part  of  this  territory  had  been  sold  under  a  law  of  that  State. 
The  law  was  then  repealed,  on  pretence  of  some  fraud  in  its  enactment, 
the  records  of  the  State  relating  to  it  were  destroyed,  and  all  titles  under 
it  were  declared  void.  By  this  "  Yazoo  fraud,"  as  it  was  commonly 
called,  many  who  had  purchased  land  on  the  faith  of  the  State,  were 
reduced  to  poverty.  Others  took  legal  measures  to  defend  their  rights  ; 
and  in  the  end,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  decided  that 
Georgia  could  not,  by  repealing  her  own  law,  deprive  the  purchasers 
of  their  right  to  what  they  had  honestly  bought,  and  that  their  claims 
were  valid  against  the  State.  To  procure  the  means  of  meeting  these 
claims,  Georgia  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  her  right,  title  and 
claim  to  the  jurisdiction  and  soil  of  the  lands,  now  comprising  the  States 
of  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  The  United  States  agreed  to  pay  to  Geor- 
gia the  sum  of  ^1,250,000,  from  the  first  net  proceeds  of  said  lands,  "  as 
a  consideration  for  the  expenses  incurred  by  the  said  State  in  relation  to 
the  said  territory,"  and  also  to  extinguish,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the 
use  of  Georgia,  as  soon  as  the  same  could  be  obtained  "  peaceably  and 
on  reasonable  terms,"  the  Indian  title  to  all  lands  then  occupied  by  the 
Indians  within  the  present  limits  of  Georgia.  This  agreement  was  made 
April  24,  1802,  and  is  usually  cited  as  "  the  compact  of  1802."  The 
legislature  of  Georgia,  within  six  months,  "  ratified  and  confirmed"  this 
agreement  "in  all  its  parts,"  and  declared  it  "to  be  binding  and  con- 
clusive on  the  said  State,  [of  Georgia,]  her  government  and  citizens  for- 


1830.]  GEORGIA   AND   THE   CHEROKEES.  229 

ever."  In  pursuance  of  this  compact,  the  United  States  had  purchased 
for  Georgia,  by  several  treaties  with  the  Cherokee  Nation,  far  the  greater 
and  more  vahiable  part  of  the  Cherokee  lands  within  the  present  limits 
of  Georgia.  Meanwhile,  by  the  advice  of  Washington  and  every  suc- 
ceeding President  of  the  United  States,  and  assisted  by  grants  of  money 
from  Congress,  made  for  that  express  purpose,  the  Cherokees  had  been 
rapidly  advancing  in  civilization.  They  had  become  a  nation  of  farmers, 
so  entirely,  that  persons  extensively  acquainted  with  them  did  not  know 
a  single  individual  who  depended  on  the  chase  for  a  subsistence.  They 
were  unwilling  to  leave  their  comfortable  habitations,  their  cultivated 
fields,  and  "  the  graves  of  their  fathers,"  and  remove  into  a  distant  and 
unknown  wilderness.  They  had  organized  a  regular  government,  and 
were  to  a  considerable  extent  supplied  with  schools  and  religious  insti- 
tutions. For  several  years,  they  had  refused  to  sell  any  more  of  their 
lands,  and  had  even  enacted  a  law  for  punishing  with  death  any  "chief 
who  should  attempt  it.  Georgia  did  not  need  the  lands,  for  her  popula- 
tion was  not  more  than  seven  souls  to  a  square  mile  ;  but  the  avaricious 
part  of  her  citizens  coveted  them, — for  money  could  be  made  by  trading 
in  them,  and  some  of  them  contained  goldmines.  It  was  proposed  that 
the  State  should  take  possession  of  the  lands,  divide  the  whole  into  small 
portions,  and  distribute  them  among  her  citizens  by  lottery.  This  plan 
appealed  directly  to  the  avarice  of  every  voter  ;  ibr  it  promised  him  a 
chance  ot  drawing  an  excellent  farm,  or  perhaps  a  mine  of  gold.  Scarce 
a  pohtician  in  the  State,  therefore,  dared  do  otherwise  than  be  in  favor 
of  it,  lest  he  should  lose  his  office  at  the  next  election.  The  State  clamor- 
ously urged  the  general  government  to  remove  the  Cherokees,  reproach- 
ed it  with  bad  taith  for  not  having  done  it  sooner,  and  threatened  to 
take  the  work  into  her  own  hands. 

The  plan  of  concentrating  all  the  Indian  tribes  in  some  region  west 
of  the  Mississippi  was  first  recommended  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  in  a  report  by  Mr.  Barbour  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  War,  during 
the  administration  of  President  Monroe.  During  that  and  the  succeed- 
ing administration,  it  was  repeatedly  mentioned  as  desirable,  but  was  not 
pushed  forward  to  the  satisfaction  of  Georgia.  The  alleo-ed  neglect  of 
Mr.  Adams  in  this  matter,  and  his  protection  of  the  Cherokees  against 
the  aggressions  of  Georgia,  were  assigned  by  the  politicians  of  that  State 
as  prominent  reasons  for  opposing  his  re-election.  His  successor,  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  gave  the  measure  his  decided  support. 

A  law  was  enacted  by  the  legislature  of  Georgia,  to  take  effect  in 
June,  1830,  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  that  State  over  that  part  of  the 
Cherokee  nation  within  her  chartered  limits.  Against  this  the  Chero- 
kees remonstrated  to  the  President ;  but  he,  through  the  Secretary  of 
W^ar,  answered  that  he  had  no  authority  to  interfere.  Encouraged  by 
this  state  of  things,  Alabama  and  Mississippi  enacted  similar  laws  with 
respect  to  the  Indian  territories  within  the  limits  that  they  claimed.  All 
these  laws  were  passed  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  making  the  situation 
of  the  Indians  so  uncomfortable,  that  they  would  be  willing  to  sell  out 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 

and  remove  to  the  west.  Success  was  confidently  anticipated ;  and  specu- 
lators were  already  inquiring  what  parts  of  the  lands  about  to  be  vacated 
would  be  most  saleable,  and  making  arrangements  to  supply  provisions 
for  the  Indians  while  on  their  way,  at  enormous  profits,  at  the  public  ex- 
pense. 

By  these  proceedings,  the  minds  of  the  Indians  were  disquieted,  and 
the  efforts  of  the  Board  for  their  improvement  greatly  impeded.  If  the 
plan  should  be  executed,  all  the  missions  of  the  Board  among  three  na- 
tions would  be  broken  up,  their  property  wasted,  their  converts  and  pu- 
pils scattered  and  subjected  to  pernicious  influences,  the  confidence  of 
the  Indians  in  white  men  destroyed,  and  an  injury  inflicted  upon  their  in- 
terests, both  temporal  and  spiritual,  which  could  never  be  repaired. 
The  Corresponding  Secretary  found  himself  called  upon,  as  an  otticerof 
the  Board,  as  an  American  citizen,  as  a  Christian  and  as  a  man,  to  op- 
pose this  destructive  undertaking.  He  wrote  a  series  of  articles,  signed 
"  William  Penn,"  which  were  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer, 
commencing  in  August,  1829.  They  were  extensively  circulated,  both 
in  the  newspapers  and  in  pamphlet  form.  It  was  a  work  of  immense  re- 
search and  uncommon  power.  It  showed  conclusively,  from  six  treaties 
with  the  Cherokees,  made  by  Georgia  as  a  colony  and  as  a  State,  before 
the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  from  sixteen  treaties 
between  the  Cherokees  and  the  United  States,  in  all  which  the  Cherokees 
were  acknowledged  to  be  a  nation,  not  rightfully  subject  to  any  human 
jurisdiction  but  their  own,  that  both  the  United  States  and  Georgia  were 
solemnly  bound,  by  repeated  pledges  of  the  public  faith,  to  a  course  of 
conduct,  the  very  reverse  of  that  now  threatened  and  commenced.  The 
whole  nation  was  roused,  and  a  great  part  of  it  was  convinced.  Nume- 
rous public  meetings  were  held,  and  petitions  forwarded  to  Congress  in 
behalf  of  the  Cherokees.  But  Congress,  by  a  bare  majority,  sustained 
the  President,  and  Georgia  perseveied.  Her  law  of  December  20,  1828, 
still  proclaimed  "  That  all  laws,  usages  and  customs,  made,  established 
and  in  force  in  said  territory,  by  the  said  Cherokee  Indians,  be,  and  the 
same  are  hereby,  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  June,  1830,  declared  null 
and  void  ;"  and  "  That  no  Indian,  or  descendant  of  an  Indian,  residing 
within  the  Creek  or  Cherokee  nations  of  Indians,  shall  be  deemed  a 
competent  witness,  or  a  party  to  any  suit,  in  any  court  created  by  the 
constitution  or  laws  of  this  State,  to  which  a  white  man  may  Le  a  party  j" 
so  that  no  Cherokee  could  obtain  redress  at  law  for  any  injury  or  abuse 
which  any  Georgian  should  choose  to  inflict  upon  him. — In  this  state  of 
affairs,  the  Board  "  Resolved,  That,  from  the  peculiar  relation  in  which 
those  defenceless  and  unoffending  Indians  stand  to  this  Board,  we  feel 
it  to  be  our  indispensable  duty,  at  this  crisis  of  their  destiny,  to  express 
our  sympathy  in  their  distressed  condition ;  and  also  our  deep  sense  of 
the  solemnity  of  the  obligations  which  treaties,  superadded  to  the  claims 
of  natural  justice,  have  imposed  on  the  government  of  our  country  in 
their  behalt;  and  we  earnestly  implore  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  to 
enlighten  and  to  guide  the  deliberations  of  the  constituted  authorities  of 


1830.]  BOMBAY  MISSION.      CEYLON   MISSION.  231 

our  country,  so  as  to  secure  the  just  rights  of  the  Indians  and  preserve 
the  failh  and  honor  of  the  government."  The  Prudential  Committee 
was  directed  to  present  a  memorial  to  both  houses  of  Congress,  in  re- 
ference to  the  effect  of  the  proposed  removal  of  the  Indians  on  plans  for 
their  civilization  and  religious  improvement. 

The  Missionary  Rooms  in  Cornhill  had  been  given  up,  Missionary  Room,. 
and  others  taken  in  the  basement  of  the  Hanover-street  Church.  The 
building  was  burned  on  the  1st  of  February ;  but,  as  if  by  the  special  favor 
of  Providence,  nearly  all  the  property  and  valuable  papers  of  the  Board 
were  saved.  Other  Rooms  were  taken,  at  No.  28  Cornhill,  where  the 
business  of  the  Board  was  transacted  till  the  spring  of  1839. 

At  BoMBA  V,  the  change  since  Hall  and  Nott  first  sought  Bombay  Mission. 
permission  to  live  and  labor  there,  was  immense.  Then  they  had  no  coad- 
jutor in  Western  India.  Now,  there  were  in  the  Presidency  of  Bombay, 
eight  missionary  stations,  supported  by  five  societies  in  Great  Britain  and 
America,  and  seven  societies,  auxiliary  to  the  same  cause,  in  the  city  of 
Bombay  itself.  The  press  of  the  American  mission  was  still  the  main 
dependence  of  all  who  wished  to  diffuse  religious  truth  by  means  of  the 
printed  page,  and  all  these  societies  were  much  indebted  to  it  for  their 
efficiency.  Of  103,520  volumes  of  Scriptures,  tracts  and  other  religious 
works,  printed  at  that  press  in  this  year  and  the  preceding,  only  about 
10,000  volumes  were  done  at  the  expense  of  the  mission.  The  Oriental 
Christian  Spectator,  a  monthly  magazine,  edited  by  one  American  and 
one  Scottish  missionary,  and  two  English  laymen,  was  commenced  this 
year,  and  printed  at  the  mission  press  ;  but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  mis- 
sion. The  Bombay  Calendar,  of  a  later  date,  mentions  the  literary  and  me- 
chanical execution  of  this  work  as  honorable  to  its  conductors  and  to 
the  city.  In  other  departments,  the  progress  of  the  mission  this  year 
was  slow,  as  it  always  was,  but  manifest.  The  number  of  attendants  on 
public  worship  at  the  chapel  was  considerably  increased,  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  schools.  Three  persons, — one  European,  one  Malay 
woman,  and  one  country  born  wife  of  a  convert  from  Popery,  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  church;  and  hope  was  indulged  that  some  others  had  been 
born  again. 

The  Rev.  Messrs.  William  Hervey,  Hollis  Read,  and  William 
Ramsey  embarked  at  Boston,  August  2,  with  their  wives,  to  reinforce 
this  mission. 

In  CiiYLON,  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  govern-  ceyion  MiBnon. 
ment  to  report  on  the  subject  of  education  in  the  island,  visited  the  Mis- 
sion Seminary  at  Batticotta  in  September.  They  gave  most  decided 
testimony  in  its  favor,  and  one  of  them  placed  .£2*0  in  the  hands  of  the 
Principal,  to  be  distributed  in  prizes  for  the  best  translations  of  useful 
essays  from  the  English.  Another  testimonial  was  received,  of  a  still 
more  gratifying  character.  A  missionary  of  the  English  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel,  residing  at  Trinchinopoly,  ap{)lied  to  Mr.  Poor 
for  fifteen  of  his  pupils  to  be  employed  as  catechists  among  the  Taraul 
people  on  the  continent.     The  cause  of  female  education,  too,  had  made 


232  HISTORY  OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 

such  progress,  that  when  there  were  12  vacancies  in  the  girls'  school, 
there  were  not  less  than  70  applicants  for  admission. 

There  were  only  six  additions  to  the  church  during  this  year,  and  very 
few  conversions  till  near  its  close,  when  this  favored  mission  enjoyed 
another  revival.  It  commenced  in  October,  and  increased  in  power  and 
interest  to  the  end  of  the  year.  Nearly  all  the  students  in  the  Mission 
Seminary  were  more  or  less  awakened  ;  evident  tokens  of  the  divine  pre- 
sence were  seen  in  the  boarding  schools  at  Tillipally  and  Oodooville, 
and  indeed  at  all  the  stations ;  and  many  of  the  teachers  and  superin- 
tendents of  free  schools  received  deep  i-eligious  impressions.  The  results 
belong  to  the  history  of  another  year. 

Mission  10  chind.  This  year,  the   first  missionary    of  the  Board    arriv- 

ed in  China.  Attempts  had  been  made  long  before,  to  convert  this 
immense  empire  to  Christianity.  To  say  nothing  of  more  remote  tradi- 
tions, it  is  known  that  the  Nestorians  had  missionaries  there  from  the 
seventh  century  to  the  fifteenth ;  that  they  had  very  encouraging  success, 
planted  many  churches,  and  were  favored  by  some  of  the  emperors,  but 
finally  suppressed  by  persecution.  The  Roman  Catholic  missions  to 
China  commenced  in  the  thirteenth  century;  but  it  is  not  certain  that 
they  accomplished  much  till  they  were  resumed  in  the  seventeenth,  when 
the  address  and  mathematical  learning  of  Matthew  Ricci  procured  favor 
for  him  and  his  sect,  and  many  converts  were  made.  They  were  gen- 
erally indulged,  but  sometimes  persecuted,  till  1723  ;  when  the  govern- 
ment, wearied  out  with  their  contentions  and  intrigues  and  appeals  to 
Rome,  decided  that  all  but  a  few  of  their  best  mathematicians  were  "  of 
no  manner  of  use,"  and  must  be  banished  to  Macao.  They  profess  then 
to  have  had  300  churches  and  300,000  converts.  The  sect  has  been 
kept  alive  by  native  catechists,  visited  secretly  at  times  by  priests  from 
Europe.     Their  missions  still  cost  nearly  $200,000  a  year. 

The  first  Protestant  missionary  to  China  was  Dr.  Morrison,  sent  by 
the  London  Missionary  Society.  Having  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
the  language,  he  left  England  in  January,  1807,  for  New  York.  Mr. 
Madison,  then  Secretary  of  State,  became  deeply  interested  in  the  enter- 
prise, and  gave  him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  American  Consul  at 
Canton,  which  proved  of  great  service  to  him.  He  reached  Canton  in 
September,  and  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  language.  The  next 
year,  he  was  appointed  translator  for  the  East  India  Company,  which 
gave  him  a  support,  and  increased  facilities  for  his  work.  In  1813,  he 
was  joined  by  Mr.  Milne.  Dr.  Morrison,  when  the  American  mission 
was  commenced,  had  published  his  dictionary  and  grammar  of  the  Chi- 
nese language,  and  his  Chinese  translation  of  the  Bible.  He  had  seen 
a  few  converts,  the  fruits  of  his  labois ;  one  of  whom,  Leang  Afa,  he 
had  ordained  as  an  evangelist. 

Mr.  Bridgman  arrived  at  Macao  on  the  9th  of  February,  and  on  the 
25th,  had  an  interview  with  Dr.  Morrison  at  Canton.  This  year  he  de- 
voted almost  exclusively  to  the  study  of  the  Chinese  language.  Towards 
its  close,  he,  with  Dr.  Morrison,  Mr.  Abeel,  and  a  few  other  pious  En- 


1830.]        THE   MISSION   TO   WESTERN   ASIA.      ARMENIA   EXPLORED. 


233 


glishmen  and  Americans,  formed  the  "  Christian  Union  at  Canton,"  the 
object  of  which  is,  to  insure  greater  union  and  vigor  in  efforts  to  diffuse 
Christian  knowledge  and  piety.  About  the  end  of  the  year,  Mr.  Bridg- 
man  received  three  Chinese  youths  under  his  care,  for  instruction  in  the 
art  of  reachng  and  in  the  English  language. 

Mr.  Abeel,  having  labored  acceptably  as  a  preacher  Mr.  Abe.i  vun. 
to  seamen  till  December,  entered  into  the  service  of  the  Netherlands indu. 
Board,  and  as  directed  in  instructions  sent  him  from  the  Committee,  sailed 
on  the  27th  for  Batavia,  on  a  voyage  of  exploration  among  the  churches 
planted  by  the  Dutch  in  the  islands  of  southeastern  Asia,  about  two  cen- 
turies ago.     He  was  still  considered  as  belonging  to  the  Chinese  mission. 


The  Mi 
Western  As 


The  acknowledgment  of  Grecian  independence  and  the 
return  of  peace  had  prepared  the  way  for  resuming  mis- 
sionary operations  in  the  Levant.  Mr.  Temple  sailed  from  Boston  on 
his  return  to  JMalta,  on  the  18th  of  January.  He  had  married  while 
here ;  and  on  his  return,  took  his  children  M'ith  him,  satisfied  that  the 
want  of  parental  oversight  in  any  situation  in  which  he  could  leave  them 
here,  w'ould  be  more  injurious  than  the  inevitable  disadvantages  attend- 
ing their  education  at  Malta  or  in  the  Levant.  Three  days  afterwards, 
the  Rev.  H.  G.  0.  Dwight  and  Rev.  George  B.  Whiting  embarked  for 
Malta,  where  all  arrived  about  the  end  of  February. 

In  about  three  weeks,  Mr.  Smith  had  put  the  press  and  Armenia  explored. 
all  its  concerns  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Temple,  and  in  accordance  with 
instructions  received  from  the  Prudential  Committee,  embarked  with 
Mr.  Dwight  on  an  exploring  tour  through  Armenia.  Having  enjoyed, 
at  Smyrna,  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  Brewer,  who  was  established  there, 
they  proceeded  to  Constantinople,  and  thence  to  Tocat,  500  miles  to 
the  east,  where  they  arrived  on  the  last  of  May.  Having  visited  the 
grave  of  Henry  Martyn,  they  continued  their  route  to  Erzeriim,  to  Tiflis, 

30 


234  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 

passed  along  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Caspian  and  the  base  of  Mount 
Ararat,  visited  the  great  Armenian  convent  at  Echmiadzin  and  the  Nes- 
torian  and  Chaldean  Christians  at  Ooroomiah ;  and  the  route  by  way  of 
Bagdat  and  Syria  being  then  unsafe,  returned  by  Trebizond  and  the 
Black  Sea  to  Constantinople,  and  thence  by  Smyrna  to  Malta,  where 
they  arrived  on  the  2d  July,  1831.  The  results  of  their  investigations 
were  published,  and  the  work  has  been  reprinted  in  England.  By  their 
recommendation,  the  interesting  mission  to  the  Nestorians  of  Persia  was 
soon  afterwards  commenced.  It  appeared  that  efforts  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Armenians  themselves  might  be  most  advantageously  made  at  Con- 
stantinople. Messrs.  Smith  and  Dwight  travelled  as  American  citizens, 
with  firmans  obtained  for  them  by  Mr.  Rhind,  American  Consul  at 
Odessa.  Mr.  Rhind  also  procured  for  them  a  circular  letter  to  the 
Pashas  on  their  route,  and  a  letter  of  introduction  from  the  Russian  Am- 
bassador to  the  Governor  of  Georgia  ;  and  the  English  Consul  General 
gave  them  a  letter  to  the  English  Ambassador  at  Tabriz. 
Beirut  sm.i.n  re-  Ou  thc  Ist  of  May,  Mcssrs.  Bird  and  Whiting  left  Malta 

Bumed.  fpp  Beirut.    Mr.  Abbott,  their  valuable  friend,  had  already 

returned  and  resumed  his  functions  as  English  Consul.  He  and  his  lady 
gave  them  a  cordial  welcome  on  their  arrival,  and  kindly  received  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Whiting  into  their  own  house,  until  another  could  be  procured. 
Mr.  Bird  took  possession  of  the  house  formerly  occupied  by  Mr.  Goodell. 
They  were  received  with  respectful  salutations  by  their  old  acquaint- 
ances generally.  The  Greeks,  of  the  Greek  Church,  appeared  friendly, 
and  were  ready  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  converse  on  religion  with 
them  ;  but  the  Maronite  priests,  faithful  to  the  doctrines  of  Rome,  on  the 
;|!N*  day  after  their  arrival,  announced  that  "  the  Bible  men,  that  is,  the 
followers  of  the  devil,"  had  again  made  their  appearance,  and  commanded 
the  people,  under  the  penalty  of  their  curse,  to  abstain  from  all  inter- 
course with  them.  This  command  the  Maronites  generally,  though  not 
universally,  obeyed.  In  their  joint  letter,  written  just  after  the  close  of 
the  year,  Messrs.  Bird  and  Whiting  state  that  opportunities  for  religious 
conversation  were  frequent ;  that  they  had  almost  daily  calls  from  per- 
sons desirous  to  converse  on  the  Scriptures ;  that  a  few  young  men,  over 
whom  they  rejoiced  as  the  first  fruits  of  their  labors,  were  modest,  but 
zealous  and  useful  coadjutors  in  defending  the  truths  which  their  lives 
honored.  These  young  men,  it  was  believed,  had  pursued  the  same 
faithful  course  while  the  mission  was  suspended.  Gregory  Wortabet, 
who  had  left  Malta  18  months  before,  was  supporting  himself  at  Sidon 
by  the  profits  of  a  small  retail  shop,  exhorting  his  customers  and  neigh- 
bors to  repent,  and  instructing  them  out  of  the  Scriptures.  He  had 
acquired  a  high  character  as  an  honest  man  in  his  dealings,  and  in  his 
religious  labors  was  not  without  encouragement. 

Greece.   School  it         Ih  Grcccc,  thc  opcratlons  of  the  Board  were  confined 
^^"'  almost  wholly  to  the  promotion   of  schools.     After  Mr. 

Brewer  left  Constantinople,  in  1828,  he  established  a  school  in  the 
Greek  Island  of  Syra,  which  he  left  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Korck,  a  Ger- 


^Bzummur    ''^"">H^        mjM 

"Mil  B^«^*M  ^X . :    t  S^^yA^;^^^^ 


ojintnnra,      /        ^qUI/^, 


JEJunldiw 


■^■"i 

~^i'!^ 


MlMitlV  o 


236  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 

man,  in  the  employment  of  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society.  The 
Greeks  soon  erected  a  building  for  it,  capable  of  accommodating  300  pu- 
pils, and  both  they  and  the  Church  Missionary  Society  shared  with  the 
Board  the  burden  of  its  expense ;  but  it  was  always  known  in  Syra  as  "  the 
American  School."  In  July,  1830,  it  had  grown  to  three  schools ;  the 
Boys'  Lancasterian,  the  Boys'  Scientific,  and  the  Girls'  School ;  all  con- 
taining 534  pupils.  The  teacher  of  the  Girls'  school  was  paid  by  the 
Board,  while  the  others  derived  their  support  from  other  sources.  In 
September,  1830,  Dr.  Korck  gave  a  list  of  twenty  places  in  liberated 
Greece  and  ten  in  Greek  settlements  in  Turkey,  where  schools  had  been 
established  by  the  aid  of  books,  slates  and  lessons,  furnished  by  English 
and  American  Christians  through  his  hands.  He  had  also  furnished 
books  for  two  schools  in  Constantinople.  This  year,  the  Greek  govern- 
ment gave  orders  for  introducing  into  all  schools  supported  by  the 
public  treasury  or  by  Greek  citizens,  pictures  and  prayers,  such  as  Dr. 
Korck  rightly  judged  to  be  idolatrous.  The  prayers  were  introduced 
into  the  Boys'  Lancasterian  school  by  the  master,  without  the  know- 
ledge of  Dr.  Korck.  Though  there  was  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
objectionable  regulations  would  not  have  been  enforced  upon  him,  had 
he  chosen  to  remain,  and  that  the  master  would  have  been  removed  to 
another  school,  Dr.  Korck  thought  it  better  to  retire  from  its  superinten- 
dence. About  the  close  of  the  year  he  was  instructed  by  his  society  to 
proceed  to  Corfu,  when  he  left  the  Girls'  school  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  his  associate,  Mr.  Hildner,  till  the  pleasure  of  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee  should  be  known. 

The  Rev.  Jonas  King  had  been  invited  to  return  to  the  service  of 
the  Board,  as  their  missionary  in  Greece.  His  acceptance  was  received 
about  the  last  of  September.  He  was  then  at  Tenos,  where  he  had 
been  for  about  a  year,  in  the  service  of  the  Ladies'  Greek  Committee  at 
New  York.  He  had  under  his  care  a  school  of  30  or  40  girls,  and  was 
actively  engaged  in  distributing  Bibles,  tracts  and  school  books.  He 
sold  500  copies  of  the  Modern  Greek  spelling  book,  printed  by  the 
Board  at  Malta,  in  two  weeks.  That  little  work  was  exceedingly  pop- 
ular and  useful  in  Greece. 

Indian  Missions.  Among  thc  Amcrlcan  Aborigiues,  thc  rchgious  awak- 

enings of  last  year  had  not  wholly  subsided.  Of  the  Cherokees,  small 
numbers  were  frequently  received  into  the  churches.  Near  the  close  of 
the  year,  a  season  of  unusual  interest  commenced  at  Carmel,  and  at 
Haweis.  In  December,  there  were  in  the  nation,  219  members  of  Pres- 
byterian churches,  of  whom  167  were  Cherokees ;  45  Cherokee  mem- 
bers of  Moravian  churches  ;  about  90  members  of  Baptist  churches;  and 
the  members  of  Methodist  societies,  including  "  seekers,"  not  supposed  to 
be  regenerate  persons,  not  less  than  850.  Of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  in 
Cherokee,  nearly  the  whole  of  an  edition  of  1000  copies  had  been  disposed 
of,  and  800  copies  of  the  Cherokee  hymns  had  been  circulated,  and  an- 
other edition  of  1400  printed. 

Among  the  Chickasaws,  the  station  at  Monroe  was  given  up,  and 


1830.] 


INDIAN   MISSIONS.      CONVERSIONS. 


237 


its  operations  removed  to  Tokshish.  The  people  were  specially  atten- 
tive during  the  winter,  and  a  number  gave  evidence  of  conversion.  At  three 
communion  seasons  previous  to  the  last  of  September,  19  persons,  13  of 
whom  were  Chickasaws  and  six  blacks,  were  received  into  the  church 


View  of  Brainerd. 


Church  nt  Elliot. 


Still  greater  progress  was  made  among  the  Choctaws. 
At  Elliot,  the  oldest  station  among  this  people,  not  one,  except  mem- 
bers of  the  mission,  had  been  admitted  to  the  church  till  this  year.  Mr. 
Smith  had  early  been  sent  here  as  a  farmer  and  superintendent  of 
secular  concerns.  He  attended  ably  and  faithfully  to  his  own  business, 
and  made  the  station  always  nearly  support  itself,  and  sometimes  more. 
He  rightly  judged  that  he  ought  not  to  neglect  his  own  department,  to 
make  some  other  successful ;  for  the  man  who  will  do  that,  is  not  a 
suitable  person  to  be  employed  in  any.  Teachers  had  been  associated 
with  him,  who  appear  to  have  done  their  duty  well ;  but  a  preacher  of 
the  gospel  had  been  wanting.  This  station  and  its  vicinity  had  shared 
but  moderately  in  the  awakening  of  last  year.  In  January,  the  Rev. 
Harrison  Allen  arrived,  and  the  religious  prospects  of  the  neighborhood 
improved.  In  February,  five  persons  were  admitted  to  the  church,  and 
six  afterwards.  Ten  of  these  were  Choctaws.  At  Emmaus,  seven  were 
admitted  in  January,  and  30  more  from  March  to  July.  At  Hickashu- 
baha,  where  the  Choctaws  had  built  a  house  of  worship,  50  Choctaws 
and  two  blacks  were  admitted  on  the  3d  of  May.  The  whole  number 
received  from  the  commencement  of  the  mission  to  September  20  of 
this  year,  was  342  ;  of  whom  282  had  been  admitted  since  July,  1829. 

Beyond  the  Mississippi,  there  was  little  progress  in        t«ei<  cburch. 
spiritual  things,  except  among  the  Creeks,  to  whom  no  mission  had 


238  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 

been  sent.  Two  or  three  thousand  Creeks  had,  within  a  few  years, 
removed  across  the  Mississippi  to  the  country  west  of  the  Verdigris  river, 
near  its  junction  with  the  Arkansas.  The  brethren  at  Union  had  com- 
menced preaching  among  them  the  last  year,  and  were  well  received. 
Here  a  church  was  formed  in  September,  with  30  members,  of  whom  five 
had  been  members  of  Baptist  or  Methodist  churches  in  the  Creek  country 
east  of  the  Mississippi.  In  sustaining  public  worship  and  religious  influence 
here,  two  young  Creeks,  about  20  years  of  age,  who  had  come  to  the 
school  at  Union  to  prepare  for  missionary  labors  among  their  countrymen, 
were  exceedingly  useful. 

stockbridge  Mission.  Immediately  after  the  death  of  Rev.  Mr.  Miner,  at 
Green  Bay,  his  people  applied  to  the  Board  to  supply  his  place.  Rev. 
Cutting  Marsh  was  sent.  He  arrived  in  the  spring  of  this  year.  By 
September,  10  or  12  persons  had  been  received  into  the  church,  and  in 
December,  the  number  of  members  was  43. 

Revival  among  the  At  Cattaraugus,  an  awakening  commenced  at  a  general 

senccas.  confercncc  of  the  Senecas  in  February,  as  the  result  of 

which,  10  were  added  to  the  church.  A  church  of  14  members  was 
formed  among  the  Senecas  on  the  Alleghany,  in  February,  and  about  as 
many  more  were  thought  to  be  pious.  The  gospel  of  Matthew,  transla- 
ted by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harris  and  published  by  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  other  religious  books  in  their  own  language,  were  read  by 
this  tribe  with  profit  and  delight. 

There  were  some  adverse  events  this  year.  On  the  12th  March,  the 
principal  buildings  at  Brainerd  were  consumed  by  fire.  It  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  some  of  the  children  escaped.  The  schools  were 
immediately  suspended.  The  Committee  ordered  the  erection  of  such 
buildings  only,  as  could  be  erected  at  a  moderate  expense.  The  same 
winter,  the  house  of  worship  which  had  been  erected  by  the  Senecas  on 
the  Alleghany,  was  burnt  by  an  Indian  hostile  to  Christianity.  They 
immediately  proceeded  to  build  another,  and  a  school-house.  The 
withdrawing  of  several  valuable  missionaries,  from  sickness  and  other 
sufficient  causes,  from  the  service  of  the  Board,  was  a  more  serious  loss. 
Removal  of  ihe  But   the  most  scrious  embarrassments  arose  from  the 

indi«n..  government's  plan  for  transplanting  nations.     It  produced 

much  inconvenience  and  evil  among  those  beyond  the  Mississippi.  The 
Osages  were  obliged  to  leave  the  vicinity  of  Hopefield,  to  make  room 
for  the  Arkansas  Cherokees,  This  settlement  was  therefore  transferred 
to  a  place  about  25  miles  north  of  Union.  These  Cherokees,  too,  had 
no  sooner  taken  possession  of  their  new  country,  where  they  were  to  be 
forever  protected  from  injurious  intercourse  with  white  men,  than  they 
were  followed  and  beset  by  hosts  of  whisky-sellers.  It  was  expected 
that  they  would  receive  money  from  the  government,  for  the  improvements 
they  had  left  j  and  whisky,  it  was  thought,  would  be  the  most  effectual 
means  of  getting  that  money  from  them.  At  the  time  expected,  the 
money  was  not  paid,  and  Congress  had  made  no  provision  for  paying  it; 
and  the  Cherokees,  generally,  sold  their  claims  for  trifling  sums,  and 


'# 


1830.]  TESTIMONY   OF   THE   MISSlONiRIES.  239 

spent  the  avails  in  whisky.  Mr.  Washburn  said  that  there  was  more 
intemperance  among  them  in  six  months  than  in  the  preceding  six 
years.  He  at  length  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  sent  orders 
to  the  U.  S.  Agent  to  stop  the  traffick.  The  chiefs  were  alarmed,  and 
warmly  seconded  the  proposal  to  form  a  temperance  society.  The  means 
of  purchasing,  too,  began  to  be  exhausted.  By  all  these  means,  the 
plague  was  stayed.  Intemperance  also  raged  among  the  Choctaws  and 
Chickasaws.  The  States  which  claimed  their  country,  had  enacted 
laws,  extending  their  jurisdiction  over  these  tribes,  and  abolishing  the 
Indian  governments  and  laws,  by  which  the  means  of  intoxication  had 
been  excluded.  Traders  rushed  in,  loaded  with  temptations,  and  un- 
principled Indians  became  traders.  In  the  autumn,  the  chiefs  of  the 
Chickasaws,  wearied  out  with  importunity,  concluded  a  treaty,  by  which 
they  agreed  to  remove  beyond  the  Mississippi,  if  a  suitable  country 
could  be  found  for  them.  A  large  majority  of  the  nation  were  opposed 
to  removing  on  any  terms,  and  the  chiefs  were  confident  that  no  suitable 
country  could  be  found.  After  exploring,  they  chose  a  region  in  Texas, 
to  which  they  would  remove  if  the  government  would  procure  it  for 
them.  With  the  Choctaw  chiefs,  a  treaty  had  been  made  in  March. 
The  Methodist  missionaries  were  forward  in  promoting  it,  and  the  treaty 
itself  was  in  the  hand-writing  of  Dr.  Talley,  their  principal  missionary. 
This  gave  occasion  to  the  irreligious,  to  represent  all  missionaries  as 
enemies,  and  all  religious  men  as  traitors  to  the  nation  ;  and  thus  a 
mighty  influence,  hostile  to  religion,  was  created,  which  threatened  to 
sweep  every  thing  before  it,  and  which  multitudes  who  had  been  friendly, 
were  unable  to  withstand.  The  treaty  was  not  ratified  by  the  Senate, 
and  in  September,  a  council  was  called  for  making  another.  The  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Board,  and  they  only,  were  forbidden  by  the  U.  S. 
Commissioners  to  attend.  After  full  consultation,  the  Choctaws  almost 
unanimously  refused  to  treat,  and  the  greater  part  of  them  returned  to 
their  homes.  The  Commissioners  convened  the  remainder  the  next  day ; 
and  by  a  mixture  of  persuasions  and  threats,  and  by  large  promises  of 
lands  and  salaries  to  the  chiefs,  procured  a  treaty.  These  tribes  had 
become  convinced  that  former  treaties  would  not  be  kept,  and  that  they 
must  either  emigrate,  or  submit  to  the  laws  of  the  States  that  claimed 
their  land  ;  laws  made  on  purpose  to  oppress  them  and  drive  them  away. 
They  had,  therefore,  little  confidence  m  the  promises  now  made  them. 
Generally,  they  regarded  ruin  as  inevitable,  and  cared  but  little  how%  or 
how  soon  it  came.  In  this  desperation,  the  hope  of  impiovement  was 
gone,industry  ceased  for  want  of  motive,  and  vice  was  let  loose.  Some,  even 
of  the  members  of  the  churches,  were  borne  away  by  the  general  current. 
The  Cherokees  steadily  refused  to  treat  for  the  sale  of  their  x^tiniony  of  ih« 
country.  Their  unwillingness  to  sell  was  ascribed  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  missionaries,  who,  it  was  said,  were  acting  inconsistently 
with  their  professed  character,  by  giving  advice  on  political  questions. 
If  the  missionaries,  by  the  direction  of  their  employers,  had  given  ad- 
vice on  every  political  question  that  came  before  the  Cherokee  people, 


240  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1830. 

they  would  only  have  exercised  an  undoubted  right,  and  no  person  on 
earth  would  have  had  any  just  reason  to  complain.  But  the  charge 
was  false.  Their  employers,  for  good  and  sufficient  prudential  reasons, 
had  given  the  contrary  directions,  and  they  had  scrupulously  followed 
them.  At  length,  on  the  29th  of  December,  a  meeting  was  held  at 
New  Echota,  the  capital  of  the  Cherokee  nation,  consisting  of  five  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Board,  two  Moravian  and  one  Baptist  missionary,  for 
the  purpose  of  making  such  a  public  declaration  as  the  state  of  things 
seemed  to  require.  Mr.  Butrick  was  chosen  chairman,  and  Mr.  Wor- 
cester, secretary,  and  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  view  the  Indian  question,  at  present  so  much  agitated 
inihe  United  States,  as  being  not  merely  of  a  political,  but  of  a  moral  nature 
— inasmuch  as  it  involves  the  maintenance  or  violation  of  the  I'aith  of  our  coun- 
try— and  as  demanding,  therefore,  the  most  serious  consideration  of  all  Ameri- 
can citizens,  not  only  as  patriot?,  but  as  Christians. 

^^  Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  present  crisis  of  affairs,  relating  to  the 
Cherolcee  nation,  as  calling  for  the  sympathies,  and  prayers,  and  aid,  of  all 
benevolent  people  throughout  the  United  States. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Irequent  insinuations,  which  have  been  publicly  made, 
that  missionaries  have  used  an  influence  in  directing  the  political  affairs  of  this 
nation,  demand  from  us  an  explicit  and  public  disavowal  of  the  charge  ;  and 
that  we,  therefore,  solemnly  affirm,  that  in  regard  to  ourselves  at  least,  every 
such  insinuation  is  entirely  unfounded. 

^'Resolved,  That,  while  we  distinctly  aver  that  it  is  not  any  influence  of 
ours,  which  has  brought  the  Cherokees  to  the  resolution  not  to  exchange  their 
place  of  residence,  yet  it  is  impossible  for  us  not  to  feel  a  lively  interest  in  a 
subject  of  such  vital  importance  to  their  welfare  ;  and  that  we  can  perceive  no 
consideration,  either  moral  or  political,  which  ought  in  the  present  crisis,  to  re- 
strain us  from  a  free  and  public  expression  of  our  opinion. 

"  Resolved,  Therefore,  that  we  view  the  removal  of  this  people  to  the  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  as  an  event  to  be  most  earnestly  deprecated;  threatening 
greatly  to  retard,  ifnot  totally  to  arrest,  their  progress  in  religion,  civilization, 
learning,  and  the  useful  arts ;  to  involve  them  in  great  distress,  and  to 
bring  upon  them  a  complication  of  evils,  for  which  the  prospect  before  them 
would  offer  no  compensation. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  deem  ourselves  absolutely  certain  that  the  feelings  of 
the  whole  mass  of  the  Cherokee  people,  including  all  ranks,  and  with  scarcely 
a  few  individual  exceptions,  are  totally  averse  to  a  removal,  so  that  nothing  but 
force,  or  such  oppression  as  they  would  esteem  equivalent  to  force,  could  in- 
duce them  to  adopt  such  a  measure. 

'^Resolved,  As  our  unanimous  opinion,  that  the  establishment  of  the  juris- 
diction of  Georgia  and  other  states  over  the  Cherokee  people,  against  their 
will,  would  be  an  immense  and  irreparable  injury." 

They  then  gave  a  statement  of  the  progress  of  civilization  and  reli- 
gion among  the  Cherokees.  Of  the  latter,  the  reader  has  already  been 
informed.  Of  the  former,  he  may  judge  from  the  facts,  that  the  men 
generally,  and  the  women  and  girls  almost  universally,  were  decently 
dressed  after  the  fashion  of  the  whites,  and  that  an  actual  enumeration, 
six  years  before,  had  shown  that  2,923  ploughs  were  in  use  in  the  na- 
tion. The  missionaries  had  never  hesitated  to  tell  the  Cherokees,  when 
interrogated,  that  the  treaties,  already  in  existence,  ought  to  be  and 
would  be  observed. 


1830.]  OJIBWA   MISSION.      SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  241 

A  new  mission,  at  La  Pointe,  near  the  southwestern  "iibwa  Mi,.ion. 
extremity  of  Lake  Superior,  may  be  dated  from  this  year.  Two  of  the 
pious  fur-traders  had  each  offered  to  support  a  missionary  at  his  estab- 
lishment j  and  this  summer  one  of  them,  Mr.  Warren,  had  brought 
down  to  Mackinaw  an  extra  boat,  manned  and  furnished,  principally 
for  the  purpose  of  conveying  a  mission  family  up  the  lake  to  his  post. 
The  Committee  had  been  unable  to  obtain  a  missionary  for  that  station  ; 
and  by  the  advice  of  the  brethren  at  Mackinaw,  Mr.  Ayer,  teacher  of 
the  boys'  school,  with  one  of  the  pupils  as  an  interpreter,  accompanied 
him  on  his  return.  Mr.  Ayer  collected  a  small  school,  labored  as  a  cat- 
echist,  gained  some  knowledge  of  the  language,  and  obtained  such  in- 
formation as  was  decisive  in  favor  of  establishing  a  mission  there. 

The  general  meeting  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  mission  sandwich  ishiKis. 
commenced  on  the  18th  of  January,  at  Honolulu,  and  continued  to  the 
27th.  Arrangements  were  made  for  translating  other  parts  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  for  preparing  several  school-books,  among  which  were  works 
on  geography  and  arithmetic.  It  was  recommended  that  at  each  sta- 
tion a  class  of  the  most  promising  students  should  receive  special  in- 
struction, to  prepare  them  for  teachers,  and  ultimately  for  preachers  of 
the  gospel.  It  was  resolved,  too,  to  commence  a  station  on  the  high 
table  land,  and  in  the  cooler  atmosphere,  of  Waimea,  on  Hawaii,  to 
which  invalids  might  retire  for  the  recovery  of  their  health,  and  thus 
avoid  the  necessity  of  abandoning  the  mission  to  save  their  lives.  In 
this  attempt,  Kuakini,  the  governor,  rendered  prompt  and  generous  aid. 
In  less  than  three  months  from  the  commencement,  live  good  native 
houses  were  erected,  and  a  fence  made  round  the  whole,  so  that  the  es- 
tablishment was  well  prepared  for  the  comfortable  reception  of  its  in- 
mates. The  buildings,  provisions  and  other  necessaries  furnished  by 
him  and  the  people  in  about  four  months,  were  estimated  at  $600.  Dr. 
Judd  and  Mr.  Ruggles,  with  their  families,  occupied  the  station.  The 
health  of  Mr.  Ruggles,  which  was  most  seriously  impaired,  began  to 
improve,  and  in  June,  Mr.  Bingham  repaired  thither  to  recruit  his 
strength.     Waimea  is  about  2,600  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean. 

There  were,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  900  schools,  taught  by  as 
many  native  teachers.  In  these  schools,  estimating  the  number  on 
Hawaii  at  20,000,  and  on  Kauai  at  5,500,  which  were  thought  moder- 
ate estimates,  and  counting  only  those  on  Maui  who  could  read  with 
ease,  there  were  44,895  learners.  Hitherto,  the  greater  part  of  the 
learners  had  been  adults.  On  Oahu,  till  the  summer  of  1829,  scarcely 
one  tenth  were  children.  At  the  commencement  of  1830,  a  first  book 
for  children  was  issued  from  the  press.  Efforts  were  then  made  to 
bring  children  into  the  schools.  The  number  on  Oahu  was  immediately 
doubled,  and  was  much  augmented  on  the  other  islands. 

There  was  no  decrease  in  attendance  on  public  worship.  Decent 
buildings  for  worship  had  been  erected,  it  was  said,  in  every  considera- 
ble village  on  Maui,  and  in  many  villages  on  the  other  islands.  That 
at  Lahaina  was  supposed  to  be  the  most  noble  structure  in  all  Polyne- 

31 


242 


HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1830. 


m'9i^piJ^Y'ite\jj»T-  >|p^BF< 


sia.  The  various  parts  of  the  Islands  were  as  frequently  visited  as  the 
strength  of  the  mission  would  permit,  for  the  purposes  of  inspecting  the 
schools  and  preaching  the  gospel.    The  "  tabu  meetings,"  as  the  na- 


1831.]  ANNUAL   MEETING   AT  NEW   HAVEN.  243 

tives  called  Ihem,  because  no  openly  immoral  person  was  admitted, 
were  everywhere  regarded  with  interest.  They  had  their  origin  in  an 
agreement  of  Kalaimoku  and  eight  or  ten  others,  about  seven  years 
before,  to  meet  every  week  for  prayer.  The  number  increased,  similar 
societies  were  formed  at  other  stations,  and  lemale  societies  were  formed 
on  the  same  principles,  till  now  the  number  of  members  amounted  to 
more  than  10,000.  These  had  all  covenanted  together  that  they  would 
endeavor  to  obey  the  law  of  God  and  meet  for  prayer  and  religious  im- 
provement. The  number  of  admissions  to  the  church  during  the  year 
was  112. 

The  third  reinforcement  sailed  from  New  Bedford  on  the  28th  of 
December.  It  consisted  of  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Dwight  Baldwin,  Reuben 
Tinker  and  Shelden  Dibble,  and  Mr.  Alexander  Johnstone,  with  their 
wives.  Mr.  Johnstone  was  to  be  associated  with  Mr.  Chamberlain,  as 
superintendent  of  secular  concerns,  in  order  that  Mr.  Chamberlain  might 
have  more  time  for  inspecting  the  schools. 


CHAPTER    XXIII, 


1831. — Meeting  at  New  Haven. — Death  of  Mr.  Evarts. — Commissioners  from 
the  General  Assembly,  and  their  report  on  the  cliaracter  and  claims  of  the 
Board. — Report  approved  and  published.^ — Bombay. — Deaths  of  mission- 
aries.— ^Admissions  to  the  church. — New  station  at  Ahmednuggur. — Cey- 
lon.—Native  preachers  and  assistants. — Admissions  to  the  church. — Church 
divided. — Fire  at  Manepy. — China. — Gutzlaff's  voyage. — JMr.  Abecl  visits 
Java,  Singapore  and  Siam. — Mediterranean. — Mr.  King  removes  to  Athens. 
— Mr.  Goodell  removes  to  Constantinople. — Fire  at  Pera. — He  removes  to 
Biiyuk  Dereh. — Schools  for  the  Greeks. — Cherokees. — Arrest,  trial  and  im- 
prisonment of  Worcester  and  Butler. — Choctavvs. — Removal  commenced.-- 
Conversions  among  several  tribes. — Boutwell  and  Hall  sent  to  the  Ojibwas. 
— Sandwich  Islands. — High  School  commenced. — Conspiracy  at  Honolulu. 
— Kuakini  called  to  Oahu. — He  suppresses  immorality. — National  Temper- 
ance Society. — The  Jesuits  are  sent  to  California. 

The  annual  meeting  at  New  Haven,  October  6,  7,  and  8,  was  made 
sad  by  the  absence  of  the  late  Corresponding  Secretary.  The  follow- 
ing minute,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Drs.  Samuel  Miller  and  David  Porter 
and  John  Tappan,  Esq.  was  entered  on  the  records  : 

"Jeremiah  Evarts,  Esq.,  the  late  beloved  and  revered  Corres- 
ponding Secretary  of  this  Board,  departed  this  life  on  the  10th  of  e"^',""^*''' 
May  last,  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  in  South  Carolina,  on  his  return 
from  a  voyage  lo  the  Island  of  Cuba,  which  he  had  taken  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  which  had  been  long  enfeebled  by  a  pulmonary  complaint,  and  by  la- 
bors nf  the  most  unwearied  and  exhausting  kind  in  the  great  cause  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence. 

"  This  excellent  man  had,  for  a  number  of  years,  devoted  all  the  powers  of 
his  strong,  sagacious  and  sanctified  mind  to  tlie  cause  of  missions  among  the 


244  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

heathen,  with  a  degree  of  zeal,  judgment,  disinterestedness  and  indefatigable 
diligence  and  perseverance,  which  has,  probably,  never  been  exceeded  by  any 
one  occupying  a  similar  station,  and  which  commanded  the  universal  confi- 
dence of  the  Iriends  of  missions  to  whom  he  was  known  in  every  part  of  the 
world.  His  departure,  like  his  life,  was  marked  with  that  lively  faiih,  and 
triumphant  hope  in  the  grace  and  truth  of  the  gospel,  which  were  eminently 
adapted  to  edify  and  animate  the  friends  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 

"  The  Board  cannot  forbear  here  to  record  their  deep  impression  of  the  dis- 
tinguished talents,  the  ardent  piety  and  the  peculiar  devotedness  of  their  de- 
parted brother  and  fellow  laborer,  and  their  grateful  recollection  of  his  long, 
faithful  and  invaluable  services.  And  while  they  bow  in  humble  submission  to 
the  sovereign  wisdom  of  God,  which  had  removed  him  from  his  earthly  labors, 
they  desire  to  cherish  a  solemn  sense  of  the  new  call  which  this  bereavement 
presents  to  every  surviving  member  of  the  Board,  to  increasing  zeal  and  dili- 
gence in  the  great  work  to  which  he  was  so  eminently  devoted  in  life  and  in 
death." 

The  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius  was  elected  Corresponding  Secretary  and 
member  of  the  Prudential  Committee. 

The  income  of  the  Board,  for  the  year  ending  August  31,  had  been 
about  $101,000,  and  the  debt  was  reduced  to  about  $3,000.  The  Pru- 
dential Committee  were  directed  to  apply  to  the  American  Bible  Socie- 
ty for  aid  in  printing  the  Scriptures  in  Greece,  Bombay,  Ceylon  and  the 
Sandwich  Islands  ;  stating  the  amount  that  could  be  advantageously 
expended  during  the  year.  Such  aid  had  repeatedly  been  rendered  ; 
but  it  was  thought  desirable  to  obtain  it  more  systematically,  and  in 
better  proportion  to  the  wants  of  the  Board. 

The  proceedings  of  the  missionaries  among  the  Cherokees  were  fully 
approved.  The  committee  was  directed  to  address  a  memorial  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  claiming  protection  for  the  missionaries 
and  property  of  the  Board  ;  and  the  churches  were  invited  to  special 
prayer  in  relation  to  this  subject,  particularly  on  the  first  Monday  in 
December. 

Presbyterian  Cora-  The  Rcv.  Drs.  Thomas  McAuley  and  James  Richards 
attended  the  meeting,  as  "  Commissioners  from  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  relative  to  the  measures  best 
adapted  for  enlisting  the  energies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  more  ex- 
tensively in  the  cause  of  missions  to  the  heathen."  President  Day  and 
Drs.  Wisner  and  Beecher  W'ere  appointed  to  confer  with  them.  This 
joint  committee  made  a  report  of  considerable  length,  showing  that,  of 
the  62  corporate  members  of  the  Board,  31  were  Presbyterian,  24  Con- 
gregationalists,  6  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  1  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  ;  that  of  its  70  ordained  missionaries,  39  were  Presbyterians, 
29  Congregationalists,  and  2  Reformed  Dutch  ;  that  of  the  churches 
formed  by  them,  27  were  Presbyterian,  and  7  Congregational ;  that  the 
Board  was  bound  by  agreement  to  report  annually  to  the  three  denomi- 
nations ;  and  that  the  ecclesiastical  relations  of  missionaries  were  not 
affected  by  entering  the  service  of  the  Board  ;  while  nearly  two-thirds 
of  its  funds  were  furnished  by  Congregational  churches  ;  that  the  Board 
was,  therefore,  "  a  national  institution,  belonging  as  much  to  one  section 


1831.]  BOMBAY   MISSION.      STATION    AT    AHMEDNUGGUR.  245 

of  the  country  as  to  another  ;  that  it  fairly  represents,  and  sustains  the 
same  relation  to  the  Presbyterian,  Reformed  Dutch  and  Congregational 
Churches  ;  that  the  Board,  its  Prudential  Committee  and  its  missionaries 
are  under  very  high  responsibilities  to  the  three  denominations  just  named, 
and  to  the  Christian  public, — a  responsibility  peculiarly  adapted  to  in- 
sure the  purity  and  ethciency  of  the  whole  system  ;"  that  "  it  is  wholly 
inexpedient  to  attempt  the  formation  of  any  other  distinct  organization 
within  the  three  denominations  for  conducting  foreign  missions  ;  and  it 
is  of  the  highest  importance  to  their  own  spiritual  prosperity,  and  to  the 
extension  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  in  the  earth,  that  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal bodies  and  the  individual  churches  in  these  connections  should  give  to 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  their  cor- 
dial, united  and  vigorous  support,"  They  therefore  recommended, "  that 
the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American  Board  should  take  prompt 
and  efficient  measures,  by  agencies  and  in  other  ways,  to  bring  the  sub- 
ject of  foreign  missions,  in  its  various  relations,  before  the  individual  con- 
gregations and  members  of  the  Presbyterian  body, — and  that  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  and  subordinate  judicatories  of  that  church  give  their  dis- 
tinct and  efficient  sanction  and  aid  to  the  measures  that  shall  be  adopted 
for  this  purpose." 

This  report  was  adopted  by  the  Board  at  this  meeting,  and  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  at  its  next  meeting,  in  May,  1832.  It  was  then  publish- 
ed, with  the  signatures  of  all  the  members  of  the  joint  committees,  in- 
cluding, on  the  part  of  the  General  Assembly,  that  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  McDowell,  who  had  not  been  able  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the 
Board. 

The  Bombay  Mission  was  strengthened  by  the  arrival,  on  Bombay  MiMioo. 
the  7th  of  March,  of  the  reinforcement  sent  last  year.  Its  strength  was' 
diminished  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Allen  on  the  5t"h  of  February,  of  Mrs. 
Hervey  on  the  3d  of  May,  and  of  Mr.  Garrett  on  the  16th  of  July.  The 
immediate  influence  of  these  changes  on  the  operations  of  the  mission 
was  less  than  might  have  been  anticipated.  The  34  schools,  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  contained  1,940  pupils,  of  whom  455  were  girls,  149  Jews 
and  78  Brahrauns.  ]\Ir.  Garrett,  who  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  press 
for  ten  years,  had  taught  the  art  so  thoroughly  to  several  of  his  workmen, 
that,  after  the  first  burst  of  overwhelming  sorrow  for  his  death,  they  car- 
ried on  its  operations  as  usual.  Three  native  converts  were  added  to 
the  church  ;  Dajeeba,  of  the  Purbhoo  caste,  Moraba,  a  Mahratta,  and 
Babajee,  a  Brahmun,  who  was  mentioned  in  the  history'of  the  year  1828. 

Mr.  Allen  and  Mr.  Read,  during  their  journey  to  attend  siMonm  Ahmed- 
the  meeting  of  the  Missionary  Union  at  Poona,  in  November,  """*'"' 
visited  many  important  places  in  the  Deccan,  to  preach  the  gospel,  dis- 
tribute tracts,  and  ascertain  the  most  eligible  site  for  a  new  station.  They 
chose  the  city  of  Ahmednuggur,  a  little  north  of  east  from  Bombay,  and 
about  175  miles  distant.  It  is  situated  in  the  middle  of  a  plain  12  or  15 
miles  in  diameter,  and  contains  about  50,000  inhabitants.  It  was  once 
the  seat  of  Moslem  power  and  splendor  in  that  part  of  India,  and  now. 


246  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

being  a  military  station  of  the  East  India  Company,  was  rising  from  its 
decline.  From  its  elevated  situation,  about  2,000  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  its  climate  was  expected  to  be  much  more  favorable  to  health 
than  that  of  Bombay.  The  brethren  returned  from  their  journey  Decem- 
ber 1.  On  the  9th,  Messrs.  Graves,  Hervey  and  Read,  with  Babajee, 
set  forth,  and  arrived  on  the  20th.  Their  reception  by  the  English  in- 
habitants was  kind  and  encouraging,  and  they  engaged  in  their  work 
with  high  hopes  of  usefulness. 

Mr.  Charles  Theodore  Huntridge,  of  Bombay,  left  a  legacy  of  7,000 
rupees,  or  more  than  $3,000,  for  the  support  of  public  worship  in  the 
Mission  Chapel  in  that  city. 

Ceylon.  Naiive  lu  Cevlon,  at  thc  quarterly  communion  in  January,  two 
native  young  men,  named  by  the  benefactors  at  whose  ex- 
pense they  had  been  educated,  Nathaniel  Niles  and  Charles  A.  Good- 
rich, were  licensed  as  preachers  of  the  gospel.  There  were,  at  the  end 
of  this  year,  connected  with  this  mission,  six  married  American  mission- 
aries, three  native  preachers,  and  2S  other  native  assistants ;  and  besides 
these,  more  than  30  of  the  teachers  of  the  93  free  schools  were  na- 
tive members  of  the  church,  and  other  teachers  were  candidates  for  ad- 
mission. 

Fire  a.  Man.py.  Qu  thc  30th  of  March,  the  mission  buildings  at  Manepy 

w^ere  all  consumed  by  fire.  The  loss,  including  the  private  property  of 
Mr.  Woodward,  was  estimated  at  more  than  $3,000.  The  heathen  ex- 
ulted, and  said  that  the  God  of  the  Christians  could  not  protect  them 
against  the  wrath  of  Ganesa,  whose  temple  formerly  stood  on  the  mis- 
sion premises.  They  supposed  this  branch  of  the  mission  effectually  an- 
nihilated. In  six  months,  the  house  of  worship  was  completed,  and  Mr. 
Spaulding  preached  from  the  text—"  And  the  Lord  alone  shall  be  ex- 
alted in  that  day,  and  the  idols  he  shall  utterly  abolish."  Friends  of  the 
mission  in  India  generally  contributed  to  repair  this  loss.  Bishop  Turner, 
of  Calcutta,  who  visited  the  district  a  few  days  atter  the  fire,  headed  a 
subscription  with  100  rupees,  which  was  raised  to  near  1,000  at  Madras, 
and  almost  2,000  was  subscribed  at  Bombay.  Others  in  Ceylon  and 
Southern  India  gave  generously. 

Revival.  Church  The  revival  which  commenced  near  the  close  of  the  last 

year,  continued  through  January  and  February  with  httle 
abatement.  On  the  21st  of  April,  34  natives  were  received  into  the 
church  ;  and  on  the  21st  of  July,  25  others,  with  the  two  oldest  chil- 
dren of  missionaries.  The  additions,  this  year,  were  63.  The  number 
of  native  members  was  now  170.  From  various  motives  of  convenience, 
they  were  now  formed  into  five  churches, — one  at  each  station  ;  and 
these  five  churches  were  united  in  a  consociation,  meeting  quarterly  for 
Christian  conference  and  communion. 

Ms-ion  to  China.  Mr.  Brldgmau  spent  the  year  at  Canton  and  Macao, 

studying  the  Chinese  language  and  acquiring  information.  Still,  he 
saw  some  things  done  for  China.  Leang  Afa  was  busy  in  conversing, 
writing,  and  publishing  in  favor  of  Christianity ;  and  being  a  native, 


1831.]  MR.   GUTZLAFF.      MR.    ABEEL.  247 

could  operate  where  foreigners  could  gain  no  access.  JMr.  GutzlalT, 
a  Prussian,  in  the  service  of  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  who 
had  spent  three  years  in  Siam,  embarked  at  Bankok  in  June,  in  a  Chi- 
nese vessel  bound  for  one  of  the  northern  provinces.  He  made  himself 
so  thoroughly  Chinese  in  language,  dress  and  manners,  that  even  those 
who  recognized  his  foreign  birth,  acknowledged  him  as  a  civilized 
man,  and  no  longer  an  "  outside  barbarian."  He  administered  medi- 
cines, distributed  Christian  books,  and  recommended  them  in  conversa- 
tion, and  returned  unharmed.  It  was  published  to  the  world,  that  Chi- 
na was  open  to  missionary  labors.  In  fact,  it  was  only  open,  just  then, 
along  the  coast,  to  men  like  Gutzlaff. 

Mr.  Abeel,  having  left  Canton  about  the  last  of  De-  Mr.  Ai.eei  vis  is  siam. 
ceraber,  arrived  at  Batavia  on  the  14th  of  January.  Having  spent 
about  four  months  in  Missionary  investigations,  and  occasionally  preach- 
ing the  gospel,  he  sailed  for  Singapore,  where  he  arrived  in  June. 
From  Singapore,  he  proceeded,  in  company  with  Mr.  Toralin,  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  to  Bankok,  the  capital  of  Siam,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  1st  of  July,  just  after  Mr.  Gutzlaff  had  set  forth  on  his 
voyage  to  China.  Here  they  were  kindly  received  by  Mr.  Silviera, 
the  Portuguese  Consul,  who  assigned  them  a  house  on  his  own  premises. 
He  continued  to  be  their  friend  and  supporter,  even  when  opposed 
by  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  through  their  influence,  by  the  native 
authorities,  and  threatened  with  the  loss  of  all  his  property  and  with 
expulsion  from  the  kingdom.  Here  they  dispensed  medicines  to  the 
diseased,  who  resorted  to  them  in  crowds,  and  thus  secured  opportuni- 
ties to  publish  the  gospel  orally  and  by  the  printed  page.  It  was  found 
that  great  numbers  of  the  people  could  read.  Even  ladies  sent  requests 
for  books  for  their  own  perusal.  Priests  were  disposed  to  inquire  con- 
cerning the  religion  of  Jesus ;  and  Siamese  of  all  classes,  Chinese,  Ma- 
lays and  Burmans,  sought  their  acquaintance.  After  making  all  due 
abatement  for  the  deceitfulness  of  first  appearances,  it  was  evident  that 
here  was  a  favorable  opening  for  missionary  labors. — About  the  close 
of  the  year,  the  health  of  Mr.  Abeel  declined,  and  he  accompanied  Mr. 
Tomlin  to  Singapore  for  its  restoration. 

At  Malta,  during  the  year  ending  October  16,  the  press  M""'^- 

struck  off  78,000  copies  of  14  works,  amounting  to  4,760,000  pages, 
all  in  Modern  Greek.  The  translations  from  the  English  by  Petroko- 
kino,  and  the  abrigdrnents  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  gospels  by 
Niketoplos,  a  Greek  ecclesiastic,  were  highly  approved  by  the  best 
judges  in  Greece. 

Mr.  King  had  still  resided  atPoros;  for  the  Turkish  Greece.  /:hen.. 
troops  had  not  yet  left  Attica.  Having  satisfied  himself  that  the  at- 
tempt would  not  be  an  imprudent  exposure  of  life,  he  repaired  to  Athens 
in  April,  where  he  soon  oj)ened  a  school,  and  engaged  Niketoplos,  who 
had  the  confidence  of  the  Greeks,  and  was  esteemed  their  best  Lancas- 
terian  teacher,  as  its  instructor.  On  the  last  of  May,  it  contained  176 
pupils,  and  it  was  found  best  to  divide  it  into  two, — one  for  each  sex, 


248 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1831. 


and  to  establish  others  in  the  vicinity.  He  removed  his  family  to 
Athens  in  June.  In  September,  he  visited  Smyrna,  where  the  plague 
detained  him  the  remainder  of  the  year. 


Station  at  Constan- 
tinople. 


Constantinople. 


Mr.  Goodell,  having  carried  the  Armeno-Turkish  New- 
Testament  through  the  press,  left  Malta  in  May,  and  ar- 
rived at  Constantinople  on  the  9th  of  June.  Here  he  was  engaged  prin- 
cipally in  translating  the  Old  Testament  into  the  Armeno-Turkish.  He 
resided  in  Pera,  one  of  the  suburbs  of  Constantinople,  where  nearly  all 
the  European  ambassadors  resided.  On  the  2d  of  August,  a  fire  broke 
out,  and  all  Pera,  except  eight  houses,  was  consumed.  Mr.  Goodell 
and  his  family  lost  house,  furniture,  library,  papers,  and  nearly  all  their 
clothing.  The  same  day  he  removed  to  Buyuk  Dereh,  a  village  on  the 
European  side  of  the  Bosphorus,  some  filteen  miles  above  the  city, 
where  he  was  hospitably  accommodated  with  lodgings  for  himself  and 
family  by  Commodore  Porter,  Charge  des  AtTaires  of  the  United  States. 
Commodore  Porter  always  opened  his  doors  for  public  worship  on  the 
Sabbath ;  and  he  extended  the  protection  which  his  office  enabled  him 
to  do,  to  the  American  Missionaries  here  and  in  other  parts  of  the  em- 
pire. 

The  Turks  and  the  lu  Novcmbcr,  Mr.  GoodcU  had  established  four  Lan- 
fichoois.  casterian  schools  for  the  Greeks ;  one  at  Constantinople, 

and  the  others  in  villages  on  the  Bosphorus.  That  at  Buyuk  Dereh 
received  important  aid  from  Commodore  Porter,  and  from  the  Russian 
Ambassador.     Some  enemy  sought  to  crush  these  schools  by  exciting 


1831,]  CHEROKEE   MISSION.      LAW   OF   GEORGU.  249 

the  Turkish  government  against  them ;  and  in  consequence  of  reports 
which  he  had  heard,  the  Seraskier  ordered  Mr.  Goodell's  agent  to  bring 
40  boys  to  the  Palace,  as  soon  as  they  coukl  be  perfected  in  the  sys- 
tem, to  be  examined  by  himself  and  other  othcers  of  government.  When 
the  boys  were  prepared  for  examination,  the  agent  requested  that  a  day 
might  be  named  for  that  purpose.  The  Seraskier  replied  that  there 
was  no  need  of  it;  that  he  might  establish  as  many  schools  among  the 
Christians  as  he  pleased  ;  and  that  he  himself  would  call  and  see  some 
of  them  at  their  school-houses.  Soon  after,  the  Greek  Patriarch  ap- 
pointed this  same  agent  superintendent  and  director  of  Greek  Lancas- 
terian  schools. — Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  Mr.  Goodell  had  more 
intercourse  with  the  Armenians.  Several  young  men  appeared  much 
interested  in  conversing  on  the  Scriptures  and  religious  topics ;  and 
some  definite  arrangements  began  to  be  made  for  establishing  schools. 

On  the  14th  of  November,  the  Rev.  William  G.  Mi.-sio.,  .oihejew,. 
Schauffler  was  ordained  at  Boston,  as  missionary  to  the  Jews  in  Turkey, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Board,  and  to  be  supported  by  the  Ladies' 
Jews'  Society.  He  immediately  embarked  for  Paris,  intending  to  spend 
some  time  there  in  the  study  of  the  oriental  languages,  and  to  proceed 
thence,  over  land,  to  the  place  of  his  destination.  Mr.  Schauffler  was 
a  native  of  Stuttgard,  in  Germany,  but  early  removed,  with  his  parents, 
to  a  German  colony  near  Odessa,  on  the  Black  Sea,  within  the  Russian 
dominions.  Through  the  influence  of  Mr.  King,  he  had  come  to  the 
United  States  to  procure  an  education  which  should  prepare  him  for 
missionary  labors  in  the  East. 

Of  the  mission  at  Beirut,  there  is  little  to  record.  Truth  and  piety 
appeared  to  be  making  some  progress  in  the  minds  of  a  very  few,  both 
here,  and  under  the  labors  of  Wortabet,  at  Sidon.  TannCis  el  Haddad 
continued  firm  and  useful.  In  September  he  opened  a  school  under  the 
patronage  of  the  mission ;  and  he  chose  to  continue  it,  though  higher 
wages  were  offered  if  he  would  go  to  Alexandria. 

Among  the  Cherokees,  there  were  some  instances  of  Cherokee  Mission. 
conversion,  and  some  additions  to  the  churches.  John  Huss,  a  Chero- 
kee, was  licensed  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  by  the  Presbytery  of 
North  Alabama,  in  April.  Two  new  houses  of  worship  were  erected 
by  the  Cherokees  themselves.  Mills,  and  other  members  of  the 
churches,  were  abundant  and  faithful  in  prayer  and  Christian  effort. 
Though  the  authority  of  the  chiefs  was  much  impaired  by  a  law  of 
Georgia,  purporting  to  annihilate  their  government,  they  did  much  to 
sustain  the  cause  of  morality. 

But  the  people  of  Georgia  were  determined  to  have  /.awom-orgm. 
their  land,  to  divide  among  themselves  by  lottery  ;  and  to  drive  them 
from  it,  it  was  thought  necessary  first  to  break  up  the  missions.  For 
this  purpose,  a  law  was  enacted,  declaring  that  all  white  men  who 
should  be  found  residing  on  the  Cherokee  lands  within  the  chartered 
limits  of  Georgia  on  or  after  the  first  day  of  March  then  next  ensuing, 
without  having  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  State  and  obtained  a 

32 


250  •'HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

license  from  the  governor  or  his  agent,  should  be  considered  guilty  of  a 
high  misdemeanor,  and,  upon  conviction,  should  be  imprisoned  in  the 
penitentiary,  at  iiard  labor,  for  not  less  than  four  years.  Copies  of  this 
law  were  sent  in  January  to  the  missionaries  at  Carmel,  Hightower, 
Haweis  and  New  Echota.  As  this  unconstitutional  law  was  aimed,  not 
only  against  their  rights,  but  against  the  rights  of  their  people,  the 
Cherokees,  they  resolved  to  disregard  it,  and  seek  protection  from  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  They  pursued  their  labors  as 
usual. 

Arrest  of  Missionaries.  On  the  12th,  thc  13th,  whlch  was  the  Sabbath,  and 
the  14th  of  March,  Mr.  Proctor,  Mr.  Worcester  and  Mr.  Thompson 
were  made  prisoners  by  a  Colonel  and  25  armed  men,  belonging  to 
what  was  called  the  "  Georgia  Guard,"  without  warrant  from  any 
civil  court,  and  brought  on  the  15th  to  the  head  quarters  of  the  Guard 
at  Camp  Gilmer.  Mr.  Worcester  and  Mr.  Thompson  were  soon  taken 
by  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  the  Superior  Court  for  Gwinnet 
county,  where  able  counsel  moved  for  their  release,  on  the  ground 
that  the  law  was  unconstitutional  and  void.  Judge  Clayton  overruled 
this  motion  ;  but  he  decided  that,  as  Mr.  Worcester  was  a  postmaster, 
and  as  all  the  missionaries  had  been  employed  in  expending  the  United 
States'  fund  for  civilizing  the  Indians,  they  were,  in  some  sense,  agents 
of  the  general  government,  and  therefore  the  law  did  not  apply  to 
them.  On  this  ground  he  ordered  their  discharge,  and  they  returned  to 
their  labors.  Dr.  Butler  was  arrested  in  like  manner  on  the  7th  of 
May ;  but  from  regard  to  the  state  of  his  family,  was  released  on  his 
promise  to  appear  at  Camp  Gilmer  as  soon  as  practicable. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  Governor  Gilmer  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  inquiring  whether  that  Department  considered  the  missionaries  as 
its  agents.  The  Secretary  seems  to  have  felt  the  impropriety  of  enter- 
taining the  Governor's  appeal  from  the  courts  of  his  own  State  on  a 
question  of  State  law — whether  the  exception  of  agents  of  the  general 
government,  in  that  law,  applied  to  persons  employed  in  expending 
certain  funds.  He  evaded  a  direct  answer,  but  stated  facts,  from  which, 
he  intimated,  the  Governor  might  infer  a  negative.  On  the  16th  of 
May,  the  Governor  wrote  to  Mr.  Worcester,  Mr.  Butrick,  Mr.  Proctor 
and  Mr.  Thompson,  stating  that  sufficient  evidence  had  been  obtained 
from  the  government  of  the  United  States,  that  the  missionaries  are  not 
its  agents  ;  and  informing  Mr.  Worcester  of  his  removal  from  his  office 
as  postmaster.  The  letters  concluded  by  requiring  them  to  leave  the 
country  "  with  as  little  delay  as  possible,"  under  penalty  of  another 
arrest.  A  similar  letter  was  addressed  to  Dr.  Butler,  who  replied  on 
the  7th  of  June,  as  did  Mr.  Worcester  on  the  10th,  stating  the  reasons 
why  they  could  not  in  conscience  obey  the  law  enacted  for  their  expul- 
sion. 

Early  in  June,  Mr.  Butrick,  Mr.  Proctor  and  Mr.  Thompson  remov- 
ed their  families  to  parts  of  the  Cherokee  country  not  claimed  by  Geor- 
gia.    Mr.  Proctor  commenced  a  new  station  at  Amohee,  near  Candy's 


1831.]  MISSIONARIES  ARRESTED.  251 

Creek,  where  he  preached  on  the  Sabbath^  and  in  September  opened  a 
school.  The  Cherokees  erected  a  school -house  and  dwelhng-house, 
ahnost  wholly  at  their  own  expense.  Miss  Fuller  continued  to  reside 
at  His^htower,  to  keep  possession  of  the  premises  and  teach  the  school ; 
and  Mr.  Thompson  went  there  occasionally  to  preach.  On  the  22d  of 
June,  Col.  Nelson,  with  a  detachment  of  the  Guard,  came  to  the  house, 
inquired  for  Mr.  Thompson,  claimed  the  house,  lands  and  crops,  as  the 
property  of  Georgia,  and  said  that  the  Guard  would  occupy  the  house 
on  the  evening  of  the  next  day.  Mr,  Thompson,  on  learning  this,  ad- 
dressed a  note  to  Col.  Nelson,  assuring  him  that  the  Guard  could  not 
be  entertained  at  the  mission  house,  and  would  not  occupy  it  with  his 
consent.  He  was  arrested,  and  conveyed  50  miles  through  forests  and 
swamps  to  Camp  Gilmer.  Though  sick  and  in  pain,  he  was  not  al- 
lowed to  ride  on  his  own  horse,  but  compelled  to  walk  till  he  could 
walk  no  longer,  and  then  thrust  into  a  most  offensive  and  uncomforta- 
ble wagon.  A  part  of  the  time  he  was  chained.  After  he  had  been 
locked  in  jail  a  few  minutes,  he  was  called  before  Col.  Sanford,  Com- 
mander of  the  Guard,  who  censured  him  for  too  great  freedom  of  speech, 
denounced  the  missionaries,  and  told  him  to  go  where  he  pleased.  No 
reason  was  assigned  why  he  had  been  arrested,  or  why  he  was  now  set 
at  liberty ;    nor  was  any  provision  made  for  his  return. 

On  the  7th  of  July,  Mr.  Worcester  was  again  arrested.  The  next 
morning,  he  was  taken  ten  miles,  where  he  found  a  detachment  of  the 
Guards  under  Col.  Nelson,  having  as  prisoners  the  Rev.  Mr.  Trott,  a 
Methodist  missionary  with  a  Cherokee  family,  who  was  under  bonds  to 
answer  at  Court  for  residing  in  the  nation  without  license,  and  now  arrest- 
ed the  second  time  for  having  returned  to  his  family  while  the  case  was 
pending ;  and  Proctor,  a  Cherokee,  who  had  been  arrested  for  digging 
gold  at  the  Cherokee  mines,  and  made  to  walk  22  miles,  chained  by 
the  neck  to  a  wagon.  They  were  then  marched  on  foot  22  miles,  to 
the  place  where  Trott  and  Proctor  had  been  taken.  On  the  way,  the 
Rev.  Messrs.  iMcLeod  and  Wells,  Methodist  clergymen  not  residing 
within  the  country  claimed  by  Georgia,  met  them.  For  some  expres- 
sion, displeasing  to  Col.  Nelson,  Mr.  McLeod  was  arrested,  his  horse 
was  taken  away,  and  he  was  compelled  to  walk  on  with  the  rest.  One 
sergeant  Brooks,  who  had  the  immediate  command,  compelled  him  to 
keep  the  middle  of  the  road,  through  mire  and  water,  threatening  to 
thrust  him  through  with  a  bayonet  if  he  turned  aside.  Sergeant  Brooks 
made  it  his  business  to  torment  the  missionaries,  by  reviling  them  and 
all  ministers  of  the  gospel,  in  the  most  profane  and  obscene  language 
he  could  command.  "  Fear  not,  little  flock,"  said  ho,  "  for  it  is 
your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom."  At  night,  the 
prisoners  were  chained  together  by  the  ankle  in  pairs.  Soon  after  they 
had  lain  down,  anoiher  detachment  arrived  with  Dr.  Butler,  who  had 
been  arrested  at  Ilaweis  the  preceding  day.  After  proceeding  a  few 
miles,  a  chain  was  fastened  by  a  padlock  round  his  neck,  and  at  the 
other  end  to  the  neck  of  a  horse,  bv  the  side  of  whi^h  he  walked. 


252  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

When  it  grew  dark,  he  was  hable  at  every  step  of  their  forest  road 
to  stumble  and  fall  and  be  strangled  by  the  chain.  On  speaking  of  his 
danger,  he  was  taken  up  behind  the  saddle.  In  this  situation  the 
horse  fell,  and  both  riders  were  injured,  the  soldier  badly.  At  night,  he 
was  chained  by  his  ankle  to  his  bedstead.  The  next  day  he  walked 
and  rode  alternately  35  miles,  with  the  chain  still  around  his  neck,  but 
not  fastened  to  the  horse.  At  night  he  was  chained  to  Mr.  Worcester 
and  Mr.  McLeod.  After  travelling  two  days  more,  much  in  the  same 
style,  they  arrived  on  the  Sabbath  at  Camp  Gilmer,  and  were  thrust 
into  jail ;  Brooks  saying,  as  they  entered, "  There  is  where  all  the  ene- 
mies of  Georgia  have  to  land — there  and  in  hell."  The  jail  was  built 
of  logs,  with  a  floor  of  split  poles,  and  without  chair,  bench  or  table] 
No  one  was  permitted  to  speak  with  them  privately,  or  to  receive  any 
papers  from  them  which  had  not  first  been  inspected  by  Col.  Nelson. 
After  being  confined  here  for  eleven  days,  Messrs.  Worcester  and  But- 
ler were  removed  by  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and,  after  some  delay, 
brought  before  the  Inferior  Court  of  Gwinnet  county,  where  they  gave 
bonds  to  appear  for  trial  before  the  Superior  Court  in  September,  and 
■were  released.  While  before  the  Court,  a  letter  from  the  Governor  to 
Col.  Sanford  was  produced,  directing  him,  if  the  missionaries  should  be 
discharged  by  the  Court,  or  obtain  bail  and  return  home,  to  have  them 
arrested  again. 

As  it  was  now  evident  that  repeated  arrests  would  render  residence 
at  home  physically  impossible,  Mr.  Worcester  determined  to  retire  to 
Brainerd  till  September ;  leaving  his  family,  which  could  not  be  re- 
moved, at  New  Echota.  On  the  Sabbath,  Augiist  14,  his  infant  daugh- 
ter died,  after  an  illness  of  one  week.  Mr.  Worcester  was  sent  for, 
and  arrived  on  Tuesday  night ;  intending,  after  a  short  visit  of  conso- 
lation to  his  wife,  to  return  on  Thursday.  On  Wednesday  night,  he 
was  decoyed  to  the  door  by  one  of  the  Guard  in  disguise,  and  arrested  ; 
but  Col.  Nelson,  on  hearing  the  circumstances,  released  him,  and  he 
returned  to  Brainerd. 

Their  trial  came  on  at  Lawrenceville,  on  the  15th  of 
September.  The  Rev.  J.  J.  Trott,  Methodist  missionary, 
Mr.  J.  F.  W^heeler,  printer  of  the  Cherokee  Phoenix,  and  seven  other 
white  men,  who  were  not  missionaries,  were  brought  to  trial  at  the 
same  time.  The  prisoners  had  engaged  as  their  counsel,  Messrs. 
Chester,  Harris,  and  Underwood.  Gen.  Harden  also  volunteered  in 
their  behalf,  and  refused  compensation  for  his  services.  The  only  crime 
laid  to  their  charge  in  the  indictment  was,  residino;  in  the  Cherokee 
country,  without  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  State  and  obtain- 
ing a  license  from  the  Governor.  The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of 
guilty.  The  next  day,  Judge  Clayton  sentenced  them  to  hard  labor  in 
the  penitentiary  for  four  years;  recommending  them  to  executive  cle- 
mency, if  they  would  promise  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  or  leave 
the  Cherokee  country. 
Tiieir  imprisonmeni.       Thc  coHvicts  wcrB  HOW  to  be  Sent  to  Milledgeville. 


1831.]        REVIVAL  IN  THE  PRISON.      APPLICATION  TO  THE  PRESIDENT.        253 

On  Saturday,  the  Sheriff's  papers  were  not  ready ;  and  at  their  request, 
he  delayed  his  departure  till  after  the  Sabbath.  On  their  arrival,  Sep- 
tember 22,  Governor  Gilmer  directed  the  Inspectors  of  the  Peniten- 
tiary to  converse  with  each  of  them,  and  learn  whether  they  would 
promise  to  leave  the  State,  and  accept  pardon.  This  was  done,  and 
a  formal  report  was  made  to  the  Governor  the  same  day.  It  briefly 
states  the  conversations  with  each  of  the  convicts,  the  promises  of  all 
but  the  missionaries  of  the  Board,  to  leave  the  State  if  pardoned,  and 
the  testimony  of  Mr.  Worcester  and  Dr.  Butler  to  the  general  good 
character  of  their  fellow  convicts.  Those  who  promised,  were  all  par- 
doned and  discharged.  Messrs.  Worcester  and  Butler  were  urged  for 
hours  to  accept  the  same  terms ;  and  meanwhile  the  gate  of  the  prison 
was  often  made  to  grate  on  its  iron  hinges,  as  if  to  inspire  them  with 
terror.  Bnt  they  had  made  up  their  minds.  Accepting  pardon  would 
be  an  acknowledgment  of  guilt,  and  would  put  it  out  of  their  power 
to  test  the  constitutionality  of  the  law.  This,  they  knew,  was  one  reason 
why  the  Governor  was  so  anxious  to  pardon  them.  They  were  there- 
fore committed  to  the  prison,  clad  in  its  garb  and  employed  in  its  labors. 

But  nothino-  could  make  these  men  to  be  regarded  as  RevUaUnihePri.on. 
felons.  The  excitement  in  their  favor  was  strong,  even  m  Georgia. 
The  keeper  of  the  Penitentiary,  though  obliged  to  enforce  its  rules, 
treated  them  w'ith  kindness  and  respect.  The  felons  among  whom  they 
were  confined,  felt  and  acknowledged  the  difference  between  these  men 
and  themselves.  On  the  Sabbath,  Mr.  Worcester  preached  to  such  as 
chose  to  hear,  and  nearly  all  were  present.  At  the  request  of  some  of 
the  prisoners,  he  and  Dr.  Butler  were  lodged  in  different  parts  of  the 
prison,  so  that  the  greater  part  of  them  were  enabled  daily  to  enjoy 
evenino-  worship.  The  exercises  were  reading  the  Scriptures,  singing, 
exhortation  and  prayer.  The  truth  was  attended  with  the  divine  bless- 
ing. Several  gave  evidence  of  conversion  before  the  end  of  the  year, 
and  more  at  a  later  period. 

On  the  12th  of  November,  Mrs.  Worcester  and  Mrs.  Butler  arrived 
at  Milledgeville,  attended  by  Mr.  Chamberlain.  They  spent  the  after- 
noon with  their  husbands.  On  the  next  day,  which  was  the  Sabbath, 
they  could  not  be  admitted.  They  visited  them  again  on  Monday  and 
Tuesday,  and  were  allowed  to  carry  in  blankets,  books  and  provisions 
for  their  comfort.  They  took  their  husbands  by  the  arm,  and  were  led 
by  them  through  the  different  workshops,  and  were  shown  the  various 
occupations  and  curiosities  of  the  place.  On  Wednesday,  they  returned 
to  their  homes.  From  others  the  imprisoned  missionaries  received  to- 
kens of  sympathy.  Many  of  the  Cherokees  w'rote  letters,  contributed 
small  suras  of  money,  and  were  anxious  to  know  how  they  might  min- 
ister to  their  comfort.  Ecclesiastical  bodies  passed  resolutions  approv- 
ing their  course,  and  prayer  was  offered  for  them  by  the  churches 
throughout  the  land. 

In  the  mean  time,  as  the  mission  had  been  established  Arpii^iion  lo  the 
with  the  express  sanction  of  the  Executive  of  the  United 


254  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

States,  the  Prudential  Committee  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  President, 
giving  an  account  of  these  unlawful  transactions,  asking  protection 
for  the  missionaries  and  mission  property,  and  requesting  that  the  Attor- 
ney General  might  be  directed  to  commence  a  suit  against  the  offend- 
ing officers  of  Georgia.  The  President  replied,  through  the  Secretary 
of  War,  that  as  Georgia  had  extended  her  laws  over  the  Cherokee 
country,  the  laws  of  Congress  became  inoperative,  and  he  had  no  au- 
thority to  interfere. 

chickasaws.  Among  the  Chickasaws,  this  was  a  year  of  gloom,  des- 

pondency and  decline.  Their  government  was  prostrated,  their  hopes 
were  crushed,  they  believed  their  ultimate  removal  to  be  inevitable. 
They  were  unable  to  defend  their  country  from  the  inroads  of  whisky 
dealers,  and  intemperance  came  in  like  a  flood.  The  members  of  the 
church  generally  stood  firm,  but  some  of  them  were  borne  down  by 
temptation  and  fell. 

chociaus  removed.  Mauy  of  the  Choctaws  believed  that  the  treaty  which 

had  been  made  with  a  fragment  of  their  nation  in  the  name  of  the 
whole,  would  not  be  enforced  against  them.  Their  hopes  revived,  and 
with  their  hopes,  their  attention  to  all  good  and  profitable  things  re- 
vived. But  in  March  they  learned  that  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
had  ratified  that  treaty ;  that  their  country  was  sold,  and  they  must  leave 
it.  On  Saturday,  April  19,  the  school  at  Mayhew^  was  examined. 
Col.  Folsom,  the  principal  chief  of  that  part  of  the  nation,  was  present, 
with  many  of  his  people.  The  meeting  was  continued  by  religious 
exercises  till  Monday.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  administered.  A  pe- 
tition was  drawn  up,  and  signed  by  the  leading  members  of  the  church 
in  behalf  of  the  whole,  stating  their  past  and  present  condition,  and  re- 
questing that  at  least  some  of  the  missionaries  might  accompany  them 
to  their  new  home.  Col.  Folsom  delivered  a  "  talk"  in  support  of  the 
petition,  and  Mr.  Kingsbury  replied,  encouraging  the  hope  that  their  re- 
quest would  be  granted.  The  Prudential  Committee  could  not  but  com- 
ply. Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  the  removal  actually  commenced. 
The  season  was  unusually  severe,  and  great  suffering  ensued.  In  gath- 
ering up  all  the  inhabitants  of  an  Indian  town,  old  and  young,  sick,  lame 
and  destitute,  and  marching  them  500  miles  through  forests  in  the  win- 
ter, it  could  not  be  avoided.  One  body  of  several  hundreds  passed 
through  the  Chickasaw  country,  and  halted  a  short  time  near  Martyn. 
The  contractor  seemed  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  render  them  comfort- 
able ;  but  it  could  not  be  done.  More  than  nine  tenths  of  the  women, 
it  was  believed,  were  barefooted,  and  a  great  majority  of  them  obliged 
to  walk.  One  party  came  to  Martyn,  and  begged  an  ear  of  corn  for 
each,  to  appease  their  hunger. 

The  wesi.rn  M.sHons.  Beyond  thc  Mississlppl,  we  find  brighter  scenes. 
Amono"  the  Arkansas  Cherokees,  the  U.  S.  Agent  exerted  himself  to 
exclude  whisky,  and  with  gratifying  success.  The  religious  awakening 
which  began  to  show  itself  last  year,  continued.  At  the  close  of  this 
year,  nine  had  been  received  into  the  church  as  the  fruits  of  this  awaken- 


1831.]  NORTHERN   MISSIONS.       SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  255 

ing,  five  others  stood  propounded  for  admission,  and  five  more  were 
soon  to  be  examined.  Others  still  appeared  to  be  truly  pious,  and  the 
work  was  still  increasing.  To  the  church  among  the  Creeks,  15  were 
added  in  April,  and  16  in  October.  The  number  of  members  was  then 
60,  and  the  awakening  still  continued.  In  December,  the  dawn  of 
awakening  appeared  among  the  Osages,  where  ten  years'  labor  had 
been  expended,  without  a  single  conversion.  The  school  at  Harmony 
was  well  filled  with  Osage,  Creek  and  Cherokee  children,  whose  pro- 
gress was  good. 

The  mission  at  Mackinaw  enjoyed  moderate  prosperity.  Nonhem  MUsi»„.. 
Among  the  Stockbridge  Indians  at  Green  Bay,  there  was  a  season  of 
special  seriousness  during  the  winter,  as  the  result  of  which  ten  were 
added  to  the  church.  Another  revival  commenced  near  the  close  of  the 
year. 

The  year  1831  will  long  be  remembered  as  a  year  of  revivals  through- 
out the  northern  and  eastern  States;  and  the  small  and  insulated  tribes  in 
the  State  of  New  York  partook  of  the  general  blessing;.  All  the  stations 
were  visited  with  seasons  of  refreshing,  and  the  converts  were  believed 
to  be  not  less  than  70. 

The  mission  to  the  Ojibwas,  commenced  last  year  by  Mr.  Ayer,  was 
strengthened.  The  Rev.  William  T.  Boutwell  and  Rev.  Sherman  Hall, 
destined  to  this  mission,  arrived  at  Mackinaw  with  their  wiv  3  in  July. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall,  Mr.  Ayer,  and  Miss  Campbell,  a  member  of  the  church 
at  Mackinaw,  familiar  with  the  Ojibwa  and  French  languages,  accom- 
panied the  traders  to  the  site  of  the  mission.  They  arrived  at  Magda- 
len Island  on  the  30th  of  August.  Messrs.  Warren,  Aitkins  and  Oakes 
transported  them  and  their  baggage  gratuitously,  and  Mr.  Warren,  who 
resided  there,  bestowed  upon  them  many  valuable  favors.  They  com- 
menced a  small  school,  began  to  preach  by  an  interpreter  to  a  few  hear- 
ers, and  spent  much  time  in  the  study  of  the  language.  Mr.  Boutwell 
remained  at  Mackinaw,  engaged  in  study  and  in  missionary  labors,  till 
October,  when  he  went  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary,  where  he  received 
constant  kindness  and  assistance  in  acquiring  the  language,  from  Dr. 
James,  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  and  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  Esq.,  U.  S.  Agent  for 
Indian  Affairs.  He  remained  there  about  four  months,  during  which 
time  many  in  the  village  and  garrison,  and  some  Indians,  were  awakened 
to  spiritual  things,  and  some  appeared  to  be  born  again. 

Religious  meetings,  on  the  Sabbath  and  on  other  days,  san.iwich  isunj,. 
continued  to  be  numerous,  and  to  be  well  attended ;  and  the  missiona- 
ries, at  some  of  the  stations,  were  habitually  thronged  with  crowds  of 
inquirers.  In  many  districts,  the  practice  of  family  prayer,  and  of  asking 
the  divine  blessing  on  meals,  was  almost  universal ;  but  the  ignorance 
and  levity,  if  not  habitual  immorality,  of  the  people,  showed  that  it  was 
in  most  cases  a  mere  form.  Extreme  caution  in  admitting  members  to 
the  church  was  thought  a  duty.  At  Kailua,  it  was  a  rule  to  admit  none 
■who  had  not  been  candidates  at  least  two  years.  Still,  190  were  added 
to  the  churches  during  the  year.     And  the  number  of  native  coramuni- 


256  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

cants  at  its  close  was  about  400.  Among  the  candidates  for  admission 
at  Lahaina,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  was  one  man  who  belonged  to  the 
crew  of  the  Daniel,  when  they  made  their  shameful  attack  on  the  mis- 
sion house.  Two  others  of  that  crew  were  now  regarded  as  pious  men. 
Mission  Seminary.  Xhc  uativc  school  systcm  had  attained  its  full  maturity. 

The  number  of  learners,  ascertained  in  nearly  all  the  districts  by  actual 
enumeration,  was  52,882.  Of  these,  about  one  third  were  able  to  read 
with  a  good  degree  of  ease,  many  could  write,  and  a  few  had  some 
knowledge  of  arithmetic.  More  than  five  sixths  of  them  were  over  ten 
years  of  age.  The  teachers,  with  few  exceptions,  had  very  lately  been 
unlettered  barbarians,  and  now  the  greater  part  of  them  were  nothing 
but  ignorant  savages  who  had  learned  to  read.  When  they  had  taught 
their  pupils  to  read,  and  perhaps  to  write,  they  had  exhausted  their  own 
stock  of  knowledge,  and  the  schools  ceased  to  yield  either  pleasure  or 
profit.  The  whole  system  was  coming  to  a  dead  stand,  for  want  of 
competent  teachers.  The  mission,  therefore,  at  its  general  meeting  in 
June,  resolved  to  establish  a  High  School  at  Lahaina,  under  the  super- 
intendence of  five  directors,  of  whom  the  Principal  should  be  one.  This 
institution  was  intended  not  only  to  educate  teachers  for  common  schools, 
but  to  prepare  young  men  of  piety  and  talents  for  the  various  depart- 
ments of  missionary  labor ;  in  short,  to  grow  up,  with  the  growth  of  civ- 
ilization and  Christianity,  into  a  college  and  professional  seminary. 
After  the  first  year,  candidates  for  admission  were  to  be  examined  in 
reading,  writing,  and  the  first  principles  of  arithmetic  and  geography. 
Mr.  Andrews  was  selected  as  the  Principal.  The  school  was  opened 
in  September,  with  about  25  scholars. 

This  year,  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  were  sent  away.  As  their 
expulsion  has  been  made  the  ground  of  serious  charges  against!, the 
American  Mission,  it  seems  necessary  to  give  a  correct  account  oJE*  its 
causes. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  they  landed  at  Honolulu  in  July,  1827, 
without  permission  from  the  government,  and  staid  in  defiance  of  posi- 
tive orders  from  the  regent  to  leave  the  Islands.  They  opened  their 
chapel  in  January,  1828.  Some  dissolute  foreigners,  who  were  parti- 
sans of  Boki,  became  attendants  upon  their  worship.  They  proposed  to 
teach  some  of  the  king's  attendants  their  relio-ion.  A  few  chiefs  and 
others  attended  for  a  while.  These  chiefs,  having  noticed  the  Roman 
Catholic  use  of  images,  and  of  the  relics  of  saints,  and  their  fasts,  which 
consist  in  abstaining  from  the  flesh  of  land  animals,  reported  that  this 
new  religion  was  "  all  about  worshipping  images  and  dead  men's  bones, 
and  tabus  on  meat,"  and  was  just  like  the  old  religion  of  the  Islands. 
This  report  excited  no  little  curiosity  in  all  classes  of  people ;  for  it 
seemed  strange  to  thesehalf  enlightened  islanders,  that  enlightened  peo- 
ple from  Europe  should  worship  blocks  of  wood  and  dead  men's  bones. 
Many  hesitated  to  believe  the  story,  till  they  had  been  to  the  chapel, 
and  seen  the  worship  with  their  own  eyes.  Among  others,  the  young 
king  once  attended,  saw,  and  was  convinced.    This  strange  discovery 


1831.]  CONSPIRACY    AT   HONOLULU,  257 

naturally  became  a  subject  of  conversation  \vith  visitors  from  Europe. 
Several  English  captains  of  whale  ships  and  others  told  the  chiefs  of  popery 
as  it  exists  in  Europe,  and  of  the  persecutions  and  religious  wars  it  had  ex- 
cited. One  of  them  told  the  king  "  of  a  great  destruction  in  Britain  in 
ancient  time,  and  that  his  ancestors  died  in  that  slaughter,  and  he  thought 
a  like  work  would  soon  be  done  here,"  in  the  Islands.  For  these  rea- 
sons, several  English  gentlemen  advised  the  chiefs  to  send  the  papal 
missionaries  away.  Very  possibly,  a  desire  to  prevent  their  rivals,  the 
French,  from  gaining  influence  in  the  Islands,  may  have  been  a  secret 
motive  for  this  advice. 

The  priests,  countenanced  by  influential  foreign  residents,  had  al- 
ready began  to  make  converts ;  and  profess  to  have  had,  at  the  close  of 
1829,  more  than  one  hundred  followers,  a  large  majority  of  whom  were 
natives.  The  native  converts  to  popery  not  only  absented  themselves 
from  all  meetings  for  Protestant  worship,  but  refused  to  attend  the 
schools  which  the  government  had  established,  for  teaching  them  to 
read  and  write. 

All  these  things  might  well  excite  some  solicitude  in  the  minds  of 
the  chiefs.  While  idolatry  prevailed  at  the  Islands,  war  had  prevailed  ; 
but  since  its  abolition,  there  had  been  no  war  except  twice  ;  and  in 
those  two  instances,  image-worshippers  had  been  its  instigators.  Priests 
of  a  sect  of  image-worshippers,  notorious  in  Europe  for  exciting  war  and 
persecution,  had  landed  without  permission,  and  remained  in  defiance 
of  orders  to  depart;  were  in  close  alliance  wnth  immoral  and  disorderly 
foreign  residents,  and  were  thwarting  the  eflbrts  of  the  government  to 
educate  the  people  ;  while  intelligent  men  from  Europe,  who  appeared 
to  be  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  sect  at  its  home,  predicted 
that  these  priests  would  soon  cause  insurrection  and  bloodshed,  and  ad- 
vised the  chiefs  to  send  them  away.  To  prevent  the  diffusion  of  this 
bad  influence,  Boki,  by  order  of  the  regent,  issued  a  proclamation,  Au- 
gust 8,  1829,  forbidding  the  natives  to  attend  Roman  Catholic  worship. 
In  November,  Boki  sailed  on  his  fatal  expedition  after  sandal  wood, 
leaving  his  wife,  Liliha,  to  fill  his  place  as  governor  of  Oahu. 

The  proclamation  of  August  8  was  disobeyed.  The  priests  assert, 
that  Boki  never  intended  to  enforce  it.  After  his  departure,  some  were 
imprisoned  for  disobeying  it ;  but  the  commander  of  the  fort,  who  was  a 
partisan  of  Boki,  released  them.  The  regent  proposed  to  remove  some 
of  the  subordinate  officers  of  gover-nment  at  Oahu,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  Boki,  and  to  put  others  in  their  places.  But  they  refused  to 
yield.  They  were  sustained  by  Liliha  and  her  paity,  which,  the  priests 
assert,  comprised  most  of  the  foreign  residents,  and  especially  the  Eng- 
lish and  American  consuls.  The  matter  was  not  pushed,  and  they  re- 
tained their  places. 

Boki  had  been  taught  by  his  partisans  to  claim  the  regency,  because 
he  was  steward  of  the  royal  household,  and  had  the  care  of  the  king's 
person.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  he  ever  advanced  that  claim 
openly ;  and  it  is  certain  that  he  acted  in  ostensible  subordination  to  the 

33 


258  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  BOARD.  [1831. 

regent  till  he  left  the  Islands.  His  office  about  the  king's  person  was 
now  conferred  on  Kaikioewa,  governor  of  Kauai ;  and  yet  the  priests 
informed  their  patrons  in  Europe,  that  his  wife,  Liliha,  had  succeeded  to 
his  office  as  regent. 

In  May,  1830,  the  regent,  the  king  and  their  attendants  left  Oahu, 
and  spent  nearly  a  year  at  Lahaina,  and  other  places  on  Maui  and 
Hawaii.  Liliha  and  her  partisans  seized  this  opportunity  to  mature  their 
conspiracy  against  the  government.  The  laws  against  immorality 
were  suffered  to  fall  into  disuse.  Nearly  twenty  tippling  shops  were 
opened  at  Honolulu.  Drunkenness,  gaming,  and  their  attendant  vices, 
were  indulged  without  restraint.  Nor  was  this  all.  Liliha  made  ex- 
tensive preparations  for  war,  for  which  no  reason  was  assigned,  and  no 
lawful  motive  could  be  imagined.  The  British  consul,  too,  had  threatened 
the  year  before,  that  with  the  500  men  at  his  command,  he  would  make 
war  on  the  chiefs,  seize  the  king  and  his  sister,  and  revolutionize  the 
government.  At  the  report  of  these  things,  all  the  islands  were  filled 
with  consternation.  The  regent  saw  that  the  time  for  decisive  action  had 
fully  come.  She  appointed  her  brother,  Kuakini,  governor  of  Oahu  for 
the  time,  and  ordered  him  to  proceed  to  that  island  and  quell  the  insur- 
rection. He  immediately  appointed  Naihe  governor  of  Hawaii  during 
his  absence,  landed  troops  on  several  parts  of  Oahu  at  once  and  unex- 
pectedly, took  possession  of  the  fort  and  military  stores,  and  established 
an  armed  police  in  the  streets  of  Honolulu,  to  be  on  duty  day  and  night, 
and  strong  enough  to  put  down  all  opposition.  He  suppressed  the  tip- 
pling shops  and  gaming  houses,  and  rigidly  enforced  the  observance  of 
decent  morals.  Various  attempts  were  made  to  evade  the  laws.  Some 
professed  to  sell  coffee  and  give  away  rum  ;  but  Kuakini  was  not  to  be 
thus  trifled  with.  Others  begged  permission  to  sell  to  foreigners  only, 
and  not  to  natives.  His  reply  was  :  "  To  horses,  cattle  and  hogs,  you 
may  sell  rum  ;  but  to  real  men  you  must  not  on  these  shores."  A  na- 
tional temperance  society  was  formed  ;  a  thousand  names  were  soon  sub- 
scribed to  the  pledge,  and  measures  were  adopted  for  extending  it 
through  the  islands.  As  was  indispensable  to  the  accomplishment  of 
these  reforms,  the  partisans  of  Liliha  were  removed  from  office,  and 
others  appointed  in  their  places. 

Kuakini's  next  important  movement  was,  to  send  away  the  Romish 
priests,  who  were  regarded  as  leaders  in  the  conspiracy  which  he  had 
suppressed.  They  were  summoned  before  the  king,  the  regent  and 
principal  chiefs  on  the  2d  of  April,  and  ordered  to  leave  the  Islands  in 
three  months.  This  order  was  afterwards  repeated  by  Kaikioewa,  and 
again  by  Kuakini.  For  the  sake  of  gaining  time  by  deceiving  the  gov- 
ernment, the  priests  pretended  to  be  seeking  for  an  opportunity  to  leave 
the  Islands,  while  in  fact  they  took  effectual  measures  to  prevent  the 
success  of  their  search.  Kuakini  probably  saw  through  their  duplicity,* 
and  found  in  it  an  additional  motive  for  wishing  them  away. 

*  M.  Bachelors  account  of  these  proceedings  is  very  remarkable.  He  says : 
"  That  we  might  appear  to  yield  in  some  degree  to   the  demands  of  the 


1831.]  THE   JESUITS   ARE   SENT   TO   CALIFORNIA.  259 

Meanwhile,  the  priests  continued  their  labors,  and  made  new  con- 
verts ;  especially  among  the  partisans  of  Boki  whom  Kuakini  had  re- 
moved from  office,  and  their  followers.  Among  these  converts  was  a 
sister  of  Peliolani,  the  last  king  of  Oahu,  who  was  conquered  and  slain 
by  Kamehameha.  Her  husband,  too,  had  been  king  of  Maui  and  Oahu. 
After  the  death  of  Peliolani,  the  family  continued  to  enjoy  a  high  rank 
in  the  island  ;  but  very  naturally  joined  the  late  conspiracy  against  the 
dynasty  of  its  conqueror,  and  fell  when  that  conspiracy  was  sup- 
pressed. 

At  length,  finding  all  other  methods  ineffectual,  the  government 
fitted  out  one  of  its  own  vessels,  formerly  the  brig  Waverley,  of  Boston, 
and  employed  Capt.  Sumner,  an  Englishman,  to  take  them  in  it  to  Cali- 
fornia. The  American  consul  had  written  to  the  governor  general  of 
California,  to  learn  whether  he  would  receive  them,  if  they  should  be 
sent  away  from  the  Islands,  and  letters  had  been  received  from  him 
and  from  the  prefect  of  the  Roman  Catholic  missions  there,  urging  them 
to  come  to  their  aid,  as  their  services  were  greatly  needed.  On  the  7th 
of  December,  Kaahumanu  issued  her  proclamation,  stating  that  they 
were  to  be  sent  away,  because  the  chiefs  had  never  assented  to  their  re- 
siding there,  and  because  they  had  led  some  of  the  people  into  sedi- 
tious practices.  About  the  last  of  that  month,  they  were  put  on  board, 
and  on  the  28th  of  January,  arrived  at  St.  Pedro,  in  California.  Capt. 
Sumner  sent  information  of  their  arrival  to  a  farmer  in  the  vicinity, 
who  knew  who  they  were,  and  had  forwarded  supplies  to  them  at  Hon- 
olulu.    The  farmer  first  visited  them  on  board,  and  then  sent  a  young 

chiefs,  and  to  avoid  irritating  them,  we  took  care,  when  any  vessel  was  about 
to  depart,  to  request,  in  writing,  of  the  captain,  a  gratuitous  passage.  We 
did  this  in  respect  to  several ;  and  as  they  knew  our  intentions,  they  answered 
us,  also  in  writing,  and  absolutely  refused  to  grant  our  request ;  for  no  captain 
was  willing  to  engage  in  executing  the  sentence  pronounced  against  us. 

"  A  short  time  afterwards,  a  Prussian  vessel  arrived,  the  captain  of  which 
brought  presents  from  the  king  of  Prussia  to  the  young  king  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  The  arrival  of  this  vessel  furnished  an  occasion  lor  a  new  attempt  to 
compel  us  to  leave  the  archipelago.  The  governor  of  Hawaii  re-appeared. 
'  Here,'  said  he  to  me, '  is  a  ship  from  near  your  own  country.  It  will  conduct 
you  to  your  own  land.'  'What  you  say  is  reasonable,'  I  replied,  '  but  who 
will  pay  my  passage  ?  I  came  here  with  nothing  but  my  body  and  the  word 
of  God ;  my  heart  has  not  been  upon  the  things  of  this  world ;  1  have  amassed 
no  money.'  '  Perhaps  he  will  take  you  for  nothing.'  '  It  is  possible ;  but  ask 
him  yourself,  and  we  shall  see.'  Kuakini  retired  with  this  answer.  The  cap- 
tain came  to  see  us  ;  I  explained  to  him  our  situation ;  he  obligingly  offered  to 
receive  us  on  board  of  his  vessel,  if  we  wished  to  depart;  but  if  not,  he  told 
us  to  make  an  application  to  him  in  writing,  and  to  dictate  the  answer  which 
we  wished  him  to  make  ;  which  was  done.  The  governor  of  Hawaii  also 
went  to  see  him,  and  urged  him  to  take  charge  of  us.  The  Prussian  captain 
answered  him  that  he  would  do  it  with  pleasure,  but  that  before  M.  Patrick 
and  I  could  come  on  board,  he  must  be  paid  five  thousand  dollars,  (more  than 
twenty-five  thousand  francs.)  The  poor  governor  had  a  great  desire  lo  rid 
himself  of  us,  but  he  was  still  more  anxious  to  keep  his  money.  He  was  there- 
fore obliged  to  abandon  his  project."  Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the 
Faith,  Vol.  X.  p.  370. 


260  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1831. 

man  to  take  care  of  their  baggage.  The  young  man  supplied  them 
with  provisions,  and  slept  with  them  by  the  side  of  an  uninhabited  hut 
at  night.  The  next  day,  a  wagon  came  for  them,  in  which  they  were 
conveyed  to  to  the  Roman  Catholic  mission  of  St.  Gabriel.  This  expe- 
dition cost  the  government  about  four  thousand  dollars. 

The  American  missionaries  have  been  accused  of  procuring  the  ban- 
ishment of  the  Roman  Catholic  priests.  This  charge  has  always  been 
expressly  denied  by  them,  and  by  the  Hawaiian  government ;  and  the 
account  just  given  shows  that  it  is  not  true.  They  were  sent  away,  be- 
cause they  landed  without  permission  from  the  government,  and  staid  in 
contempt  of  its  orders  to  depart ;  because  they  taught  a  religion  which, 
in  its  "  worship  of  images  and  dead  men's  bones,  and  tabus  on  meat," 
was  like  the  old  bloody  idolatry  of  the  Islands  ;  because  intelligent  Eng- 
lishmen told  of  the  blood  that  Rome  had  shed  in  Europe,  predicted  like 
carnage  here,  and  advised  their  expulsion  ;  because  they  opposed  the 
efforts  of  the  government  to  teach  the  people  to  read;  because  they 
identified  themselves  with  the  party  of  Boki,  of  Liliha,  of  the  family  of 
Peliolani,  of  the  British  and  American  consuls,  and  of  dissolute  foreign- 
ers generally, — a  party  which  attempted  to  depose  the  regent  and  prin- 
cipal chiefs,  and  raise  themselves  to  supreme  power  by  civil  war ;  and 
because  they  were  believed,  if  not  known,  to  have  been  active  laborers 
in  the  cause  of  that  party,  by  inducing  men  to  join  it.* 

The  reinforcement  which  sailed  for  the  islands  in  December  of  last 
year,  arrived  on  the  7th  of  June.  Another  reinforcement  sailed  from 
New  Bedford  on  the  26th  of  November.  Its  members  were,  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  John  S.  Emerson,  David  B.  Lyman,  Ephraim  Spaulding,  Wil- 
liam P.  Alexander,  Richard  Armstrong,  Cochran  Forbes,  Harvey  R. 
Hitchcock,  and  Lorenzo  Lyons ;  Alonzo  Chapin,  M.  D.,  missionary 
physician,  with  their  wives,  and  Mr.  Edmund  H.  Rogers,  printer,  en- 
gaged for  a  limited  time. 

*  The  most  important  documents  on  this  subject  are,  1.  The  Missionary 
Herald,  and  Annual  Reports  of  the  Board.  2.  The  Roman  Catholic  "Annals 
of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,"  especially  volumes  six  and  ten.  3.  Letter  of 
the  king  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  the  king  of  England,  written  in  1837,  a 
copy  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Board.  4.  The  king's  letter 
to  the  American  consul,  of  Oct.  28,  1839,  which  may  be  found  in  the  Appen- 
dix to  the  Annual  Report  for  1841.  5.  An  account  of  the  visit  of  the  French 
frigate  I'Artemise  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  by  S.  N.  Castle  ;  first  published  in 
the  Hawaiian  Spectator,  in  1839,  and  republished  in  a  pamphlet  by  sixteen  offi- 
cers of  the  U.  S.  East  India  squadron.  6.  Supplement  to  the  Sandwich  Island 
Mirror;  being  a  review  of  Mr.  Castle's  article,  ascribed  to  Mr.  John  C.  Jones, 
formerly  American  consul  at  Honolulu.  A  brief  view  of  the  leading  authori- 
ties may  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  for 
1841. 


1832.]  ARRANGEMENT   WITH   THE   REFORMED   DUTCH   CHURCH.  261 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

1832. — Meeting  at  New  York. — Arrangement  with  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church. — Death  of  Dr.  Cornelius. — New  arrangements  in  the  department  of 
correspondence. — Mahrattas. — Changes  in  the  mission.— Conversions  at  Ah- 
mednuggur. — Ceylon. — Governor  consents  to  the  enlargement  of  the  mis- 
sion.— Chinese  Repository. — Mr.  Abeel's  second  visit  to  Bankok. — His  return 
to  Singapore. — Greece. — Mr.  King's  intercourse  with  the  government. — 
Constantinople. —  Greek  Schools  multiply. — The  patriarch's  sanction. — Mr. 
Dwight  and  Mr.  Schaufflcr  arrive. — Removal  to  Orta  Koy. — Conquest  of 
Syria  by  the  Egyptians. — Death  of  Asaad  Shidiak  ascertained. — Dcaih  of 
Wortabet. — Indian  Missions. — Condition  of  Worcester  and  Butler, — Decision 
of  the  U.  S.  Court  in  their  lavor. — Refusal  of  Georgia  to  obey. — The  law 
repealed. — Chickasaws  cede  their  land. — Choctaws  removed. — Missions  in 
their  new  country. — Conversions  among  the  northern  tribes. — Sandwich 
Islands. — Death  of  Naihe. — Death  of  Kaahumanu. — A  wakening  on  Kauai. 
— Influence  of  the  Tabu  societies. — New  Stations. — Improvement  among 
seamen. — Mission  to  the  Washington  Islands. 

The  twenty-third  annual  meeting  was  held  at  New  York,  October  3d, 
4th,  and  5th.  The  attendant  religious  exercises  w^ere  unusually  nume- 
rous and  interesting.  On  Wednesday  evening,  there  were  four  mission- 
ary sermons,  in  different  parts  of  the  city.  The  receipts,  for  the  finan- 
cial year  had  been  nearly  $30,000,  and  the  expenditures  about  $23,000, 
greater  than  the  year  before. 

A  committee  from  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
attended  the  meeting,  and  Drs.  Miller  and  Edwards,  Judge  Piatt,  Mr. 
Lewis  and  Mr.  Anderson  were  appointed  to  confer  with  them.  This 
joint  committee  reported  a  plan  of  co-operation  in  Foreign  Missions, 
which  was  adopted,  and  still  subsists.  According  to  this  plan,  candi- 
dates for  employment  as  foreign  missionaries  who  were  members  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  if  suitable  persons,  are  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Prudential  Committee  as  missionaries  of  the  Board,  and  to  be  under  its 
direction,  like  others  who  are  in  its  service ;  but  they  are  still  to  continue 
members  of  that  church,  and  subject  as  before  to  its  laws  and  disci- 
pline, and  if  they  form  churches  among  the  heathen,  may  form  them  ac- 
cording to  their  own  views  of  church  government ;  and  the  friends  of 
missions  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  whether  acting  as  individuals, 
or  as  voluntary  or  ecclesiastical  associations,  may,  in  making  donations  to 
the  Board,  direct  that  the  money  be  applied  to  missionaries  belonging  to 
that  Church.  All  this  might  have  been  done  without  any  formal  agree- 
ment, for  it  was  all  in  accordance  with  the  previous  practice  of  the 
Board ;  but  it  was  well  to  have  it  distinctly  and  officially  stated. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Cornelius,  who  was  elected  Corresponding  Secretary  at  the 
last  annual  meeting,  accepted  the  appointment  nearthe  close  of  the  year.  On 
the  16th  of  January,  he  took  his  seat  with  the  Prudential  Committee.    He  left 


262  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1832. 

Boston  on  the  fourth  of  February,  intending  to  spend  several  months  on  an 
agency  in  the  Middle  States.  When  he  arrived  at  Hartford,  he  was  much 
exhausted  and  in  pain,  but  attended  the  Monthly  Concert,  and  addressed  the 
audience,  according  to  previous  appointment.  This  was  the  last  of  his  public 
labors.  He  was  immediately  confined  to  his  bed  by  an  inflammation  of  the 
brain,  which  terminated  fatally  on  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath,  February 
12.  On  the  records  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  his  death  is  noticed  in  these 
words: 

"February  20,  1832.  It  having  pleased  the  wise  and  sovereign  Disposer 
of  events,  to  remove  from  his  earthly  labors  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cornelius,  a  member 
of  this  Committee  and  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board,  who  died  at 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  on  the  i2th  instant, 

'■'■Resolved,  That  the  Committee  desire  to  be  solemnly  affected,  by  the  re- 
peated strokes  of  God's  aflilictive  providence,  with  which  they  have  been  visited 
during  the  past  year,  and  particularly  to  notice  with  humility  and  submis- 
sion the  recent  death  of  the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  D.  D.,  lately  a  member  of  this 
Committee  and  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board  ;  who,  immediately 
after  entering  on  the  duties  of  his  office,  has  been  suddenly  removed,  in  the 
vigor  of  life  and  in  the  height  of  his  usefulness  ;  and  while  the  Committee  mourn 
their  own  personal  loss,  and  the  loss  which  the  Board  and  the  cause  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence  generally  have  sustained  by  this  event,  they  would  acknow- 
ledge, with  unfeigned  gratitude  to  God,  the  piety,  the  unwearied  zeal  and 
public  spirit,  the  enlarged  views,  the  sound  judgment,  the  industry,  the  amiable 
and  affectionate  disposition,  and  the  other  qualifications  for  his  office,  possessed 
by  their  late  beloved  associate  and  brother,  by  which  he  secured  universally 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  Christian  community,  was  highly  success- 
ful in  labors  in  behalf  of  the  Board  and  other  benevolent  institutions,  and  pro- 
mised eminent  and  continued  usefulness  to  the  missionary  cause."  A  respect- 
ful notice  of  his  merits  and  his  death  was  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Board. 
In  supplying  the  vacancy  made  by  his  death,  at  the  annual  meeting,  it  was 
thought  best  to  introduce  a  new  arrangement,  and  instead  of  a  secretary  and 
two  assistants,  to  appoint  three  corresponding  secretaries.  Accordingly,  the 
Rev.  B.  B.  Wisner,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Rufus  Anderson  and  Mr.  David  Green  were 
elected.  In  the  division  of  labor  among  the  Secretaries,  the  domestic  corres- 
pondence was  assigned  to  Dr.  Wisner;  correspondence  with  missions  and 
societies  beyond  the  seas,  to  Mr.  Anderson;  and  correspondence  with  missions 
among  the  Indians,  and  editing  the  missionary  Herald,  to  Mr.  Green. — Samu- 
el T.  Armstrong,  Esq.  and  Mr.  Charles  Stoddard  were  added  to  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee. 

Mahraita  Mission.  In  the  Mabfatta  missioii,  this  was  a  year  of  changes. 

Mr.  Hervey  died  of  the  cholera  at  Ahraednuggur,  on  the  13th  of  May. 
Mr.  Graves,  needing,  for  the  preservation  of  Hfe,  a  climate  that  could 
not  be  found  in  India,  sailed  for  America  in  August,  "with  his  wife  and 
the  orphan  child  of  Mr.  Hervey,  and  arrived  at  Boston  in  January, 
1833.  Mr.  Allen,  too,  left  Bombay  with  his  orphan  child  in  December, 
and  arrived  at  Salem  in  May,  1833.  The  Rev.  George  W.  Boggs  and 
his  wife  embarked  at  Salem  in  May,  arrived  at  Bombay  in  September, 
and  in  December  proceeded  to  Ahmednuggur.  About  the  last  of  De- 
cember, Mr.  William  C.  Sampson,  printer,  embarked  at  Boston,  to  take 
charge  of  the  press  of  the  mission. 

In  Bombay,  one  Hindoo  woman  was  received  into  the  church  in 
February. 

The  brethren  at  Ahmednuggur  were  kindly  received,  encouraged 


1832.]  CEYLON  MISSION.  263 

and  assisted  by  the  few  pious  Europeans  whom  they  found  there.  The 
Hindoos,  at  first,  were  too  ignorant  of  Christianity  to  sec  any  reason  for 
opposing  it.  For  three  or  four  months,  the  gospel  was  often  preached 
to  large  assemblies  of  orderly  and  sometimes  attentive  natives.  But 
when  it  was  seen  that  if  Christianity  prevailed,  Brahminism  must  fall, 
the  Brahrauns  began  to  treat  the  missionaries  and  their  instructions  first 
with  indifference,  and  then  with  contempt.  They  abused  the  mission- 
aries in  the  streets,  disturbed  the  companies  which  they  gathered  for 
conversation  by  the  way  side,  and  taught  the  boys  to  hoot  at  them  and 
pelt  them  with  dirt  and  stones.  Babajee,  the  converted  Brahmun,  was 
a  special  object  of  this  petty  but  trying  persecution,  for  they  hated  him 
as  an  apostate;  but  he  bore  all  patiently,  and  the  more  he  was  reviled 
and  abused,  the  more  faithfully  and  affectionately  did  he  seek  the  good 
of  his  persecutors.  His  wife,  awakened  at  the  death  bed  of  Mr.  Her- 
vey,  by  seeing  how  a  Christian  could  die,  was  received  into  the  church 
on  the  17th  of  July. 

An  asylum  for  the  poor,  the  aged  and  the  infirm,  es-  cnver-sM 

tabhshed  by  the  English  inhabitants,  had  been  put  under  Ahmednuggur. 
the  care  of  the  missionaries  from  their  first  arrival.  Here  they  daily 
gave  religious  instruction.  In  September,  several  of  the  inmates  began 
to  show  more  than  usual  interest  in  the  exercises.  One  evening  about 
the  middle  of  October,  when  Mr.  Read  had  returned  from  the  asylum, 
depressed  by  the  unusual  indifference  of  his  hearers  and  contempt  of 
spectators,  Babajee  came  to  him  and  introduced  the  poor,  lame  Kon- 
dooba,  who  requested  baptism,  saying,  "  I  am  a  great  sinner ;  my  mind 
is  very  dark,  and  I  wish  to  be  saved  through  Jesus  Christ."  He  re- 
ceived appropriate  instruction,  and  on  the  18th  of  November,  he  and 
two  other  inmates  of  the  asylum,  all  of  low  caste,  were  baptized  and  re- 
ceived into  the  church,  in  the  presence  of  several  pious  Europeans,  and 
about  100  natives,  several  of  whom,  with  apparent  sincerity,  requested 
baptism  for  themselves.  The  hearts  of  the  missionaries  were  encourag- 
ed, and  Babajee  wept  for  joy. 

In  Ceylon,  this  was  one  of  those  good  years,  which,  cyio,,  Mission. 
because  they  are  good,  afford  little  matter  for  the  historian.  The  Pre- 
paratory School  was  removed  from  Tillipally,  and  attached  to  the  Sem- 
inary at  Batticotta,  with  the  intention  of  opening  central  day  schools 
for  teaching  in  English  at  each  of  the  stations.  During  the  year,  there 
were  seasons  of  unusual  seriousness  and  some  instances  of  conversions 
at  all  the  stations,  but  no  general  revival.  Twenty-seven  persons  were 
added  to  the  churches,  and  there  were  13  candidates  for  admission  at 
its  close. 

For  several  years,  the  government  had  refused  to  allow  R^ifK'ion.removed. 
any  increase  of  the  number  of  American  missionaries  in  Ceylon.  Nei- 
ther were  they  permitted  to  have  a  press  under  their  control.  A  press, 
therefore,  which  had  been  given  to  the  Board  for  the  use  of  this  mission, 
had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  mission 
at  Nellore,  and  the  printing  for  the  American  mission  had  been  done 


264  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1832. 

there.  The  present  Governor,  Sir  Robert  Wilmol  Horton,  an  enlight- 
ened friend  of  missions,  gave  leave  officially  for  additional  missionaries 
to  be  received  from  America  till  further  orders  could  be  received  from 
England,  and  promised  to  write  to  the  English  government,  recom- 
mending and  requesting  an  entire  removal  of  the  restrictions.  The 
brethren,  therefore,  immediately  applied  for  a  reinforcement,  which 
was  sent  the  next  year. 

Mission  to  China.  Mr.  Brldgman,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  had  five  boys 

under  his  instruction  at  Canton.  One  of  them  was  Atih,  a  son  of  Le- 
ang  Afa.  It  was  his  father's  desire  that  he  should  acquire  a  good  know- 
ledge of  English,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  that  he  might  become  an  accom- 
plished translator  of  the  Scriptures.  A  press,  given  by  private  liber- 
ality in  New  York,  arrived  on  one  of  the  last  days  of  18.31 ;  the  type, 
some  time  latter.  On  its  arrival,  a  printer  was  immediately  engaged, 
and  a  monthly  magazine,  called  the  "  Chinese  Repository,"  was  com- 
menced. The  first  number  was  issued  May  31.  Mr.  Bridgman  was 
its  editor.  It  was  "  printed  for  the  proprietors,"  who  were  the  mem- 
bers of  the  "  Christian  Union," — Dr.  Morrison,  his  son,  Mr.  King  and 
Mr.  Bridgman  ;  so  that,  if  the  work  should  prove  unprofitable,  but  a 
fourth  part  of  the  expense  would  fall  upon  the  Board.  The  leading 
object  of  the  work  was,  to  diffuse  among  all  readers  of  the  English 
language,  useful  information  concerning  China.  It  has  been  ably  con- 
ducted, and  done  much  to  accomplish  its  object. 

Mr.  Abeei  in  sir.m.  Aftcrashort  stay  at  Singapore,  Mr.  Abeel  hastened 

back  to  Bankok,  that  he  might  supply  the  numerous  Chinese  vessels 
with  Christian  books,  before  they  commenced  their  homeward  voyage. 
On  his  arrival,  he  was  forbidden  to  distribute  books,  except  among  the 
Chinese  junks  in  the  harbor,  because  the  king  would  permit  no  attempt 
to  change  the  religion  of  the  country.  The  priests  were  less  familiar 
than  on  his  former  visit.  Still,  many  came  for  medicine,  and  one  for 
religious  conversation.  The  number  of  his  patients  increased,  to  all  of 
w^hom  he  preached  the  gospel.  A  few, — not  more  than  20,— came  to 
hear  him  on  the  Sabbath,  and  five  or  six  professed  to  renounce  their 
idols.  Mr.  Abeel  hoped  that  some  of  them  would  in  future  years  be 
found  true  converts. 

In  November,  the  failure  of  his  health  compelled  him  to  return  to 
Singapore,  where  he  was  able  to  preach  on  the  Sabbath,  and  to  attend 
some  other  religious  meetings.  Some  were  awakened  and  alarmed, 
and  there  was  more  thought  and  conversation  on  religion,  than  had 
ever  before  been  known  there. 

Greece.  Modcm  Grcck  school  books,  from  the  mission  press  at 

Malta,  were  in  great  demand.  Mr.  Leeves  wrote  from  Corfu  for 
14,000  ;  Mr.  Hildner  from  Syra  for  2,000  ;  and  many  were  distributed 
by  Mr.  King  in  Greece,  and  by  the  brethren  at  Constantinople. 

Mr.  King  returned  from  Smyrna  in  February.  The  Turks  were 
still  at  Athens,  but  opposed  no  hindrance  to  his  labors.  He  had  pur- 
chased land  for  a  female  school;  and  in  May  commenced  preparations 


1832.]  CONSTANTINOPLE.      GREEK   SCHOOLS   MULTIPLY.  265 

for  building.  The  Demogerontes,  too,  gave  him  the  use  of  the  old 
Hellenic  school-house,  where  he  opened  a  school  for  teaching  ancient 
Greek  and  some  other  of  the  higher  branches  of  learning.  In  July,  he 
visited  Nauplia,  then  the  seat  of  government,  and  presented  to  Rizos, 
Secretary  for  Religion  and  Public  Instruction,  a  quantity  of  school 
books  from  the  press  at  Malta.  The  Secretary  distributed  the  books 
among  the  schools,  and  afterwards  acknowledged  the  donation,  and 
the  reception  of  Mr.  King's  annual  report,  in  the  government  news- 
paper, with  thanks  for  those  "  useful  labors." 

The  Rev.  Elias  Riggs,  with  his  wife,  sailed  from  Boston,  on  the  30th 
of  October,  to  join  the  mission  in  Greece. 

At  Constantinople,  early  in  the  year,  Mr.  Goodell  wait-  consiaminopie. 
ed  on  the  Armenian  Patriarch,  and  proposed  to  establish  Lancasterian 
schools  among  his  people.  The  Patriarch,  after  numerous  inquiries  con- 
cerning American  institutions,  opinions  and  missions,  appointed  Boghos 
Fisika,  that  is,  Paul  the  Philosopher,  to  learn  the  system  and  commence 
a  school  by  way  of  experiment. 

A  normal  school  for  Greeks  was  sustained  at  Galata,  to  which  Greek 
teachers  resorted  for  instruction,  and  for  books,  slates,  and  other  school 
furniture.  Here  Mr.  Paspati,  who  had  been  educated  at  Amherst,  was 
a  principal  teacher.  Another  school  for  Greeks  was  supported  at  Buyuk 
Dereh.  A  little  encouragement,  assistance  and  advice,  induced  the 
Greeks  themselves  to  establish  nearly  30  more,  at  their  own  expense. 
The  Greek  Patriarch  gave  these  schools  his  decided  approbation.  It 
being  reported  that  heretical  books  were  in  circulation,  the  Patriarch 
made  out  a  catalogue  of  such  as  he  thought  suitable  to  be  used  in  schools 
and  families.  This  catalogue  included  all  the  publications  of  the  Malta 
press  which  had  been  circulated  at  Constantinople. 

Mr.  Dwight  arrived  from  Malta  in  June,  and  Mr.  Schauffler  from 
Paris,  by  way  of  Vienna  and  Odessa,  on  the  last  of  July.  About  this 
time  the  brethren  removed  from  Buyuk  Dereh  to  Orta  Koy,  a  village  of 
Jews  and  Armenians  about  five  miles  from  Galata.  Soon  after  their  re- 
moval, the  plague  broke  out,  and  they  were  obliged  to  shut  themselves  up 
to  avoid  contagion.  The  plague  was  followed  by  the  cholera,  and  both 
by  a  civil  war,  which  shook  the  capital  and  endangered  the  throne.  Du- 
ring the  remainder  of  the  year,  therefore,  but  little  public  effort  was 
possible. 

The  mission  at  Beirut  was  in  like  manner  shut  in  by  pestilence  and 
war.  The  Viceroy  of  Egypt  was  in  arms  against  the  Sultan.  His 
troops,  under  Ibrahim  Pasha,  being  joined  by  some  10,000  or  15,000 
men  from  Mount  Lebanon,  under  the  Emir  Beshlr,  took  Acre  in  May, 
pushed  their  conquests  as  far  as  Damascus,  and  in  the  end  established  the 
dominion  of  Egypt  over  Palestine  and  all  Syria.  Soon  after  the  capture 
of  Acre,  Mr.  Tod,  an  English  merchant,  accompanied  by  Wortabet,  ob- 
tained an  audience  with  Ibrahim,  and  made  known  to  him  the  case  of 
Asaad  Shidiak,  who  had  been  imprisoned  "  because  he  would  not  wor- 
ship images  and  pictures  and  pray  to  the  dead."     By  order  of  Ibrahim, 

34 


266  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1832. 

the  Emir  Beshir  furnished  Mr.  Tod  with  ten  soldiers,  and  with  authority 
from  himself  to  search  the  convent  at  Kanobin,  by  force  if  necessary. 
When  Mr.  Tod  arrived  at  Kanobin  and  demanded  the  surrender  of  Asaad, 
the  Patriarch  and  priests  trembled  with  dismay.  They  asserted  that 
Asaad  had  died  of  a  dropsy  about  two  years  before,  pointed  out  his  grave, 
and  offered  to  open  it.  The  convent  was  thoroughly  searched,  but  he 
was  not  found,  and  Mr.  Tod  was  convinced  that  he  was  really  dead. 
It  was  reported,  and  probably  with  truth,  that  he  had  been  poisoned  by 
order  of  the  Emir  Beshir. 

Wortabet,  since  his  return  from  Malta,  had  not  been  a  member  of 
the  mission  ;  but,  from  his  weight  of  character  and  his  perfect  know- 
ledge of  the  people,  his  influence  at  Sidon  was  exceedingly  valuable,  and 
was  fast  increasing  and  extending.  But,  on  the  10th  of  September,  a 
short  illness,  supposed  to  be  the  cholera,  terminated  his  earthly  labors. 
From  the  first  attack,  he  considered  the  disease  as  fatal,  and  met  death 
with  calm  reliance  on  the  Savior. 

The  Rev.  William  M.  Thomson  and  Dr.  Asa  Dodge  sailed  from  Bos- 
ton, October  30,  to  reinforce  this  mission. 

Cherokee  Mission.  Thc  most  intcrcsting  poiut  in  the  Indian  missions,  this 

year,  was  the  Georgia  penitentiary.  The  imprisoned  missionaries  were 
treated  with  all  the  kindness  which  the  rules  of  the  prison  would  allow. 
Except  that  all  letters  sent  or  received  by  them  must  be  seen  by  some 
officer  of  the  prison,  they  corresponded  freely  with'their  friends  ;  and  Mr. 
Worcester  still  continued  to  give  advice  and  directions  concerning  the 
management  of  the  mission.  Severe  tasks  were  not  imposed  upon  them  ; 
and  when  any  peculiarly  unpleasant  work  was  to  be  performed,  some  of 
the  other  convicts  often  begged  the  privilege  of  doing  it  in  their  stead. 
Still,  they  did  their  full  share  of  labor,  and  refused  every  indulgence  which 
could  distinguish  them  invidiously  from  their  fellow  prisoners. 
Sentence  of  Mission-  Thclr  CBSc  was  brought,  by  a  writ  of  error,  before  the 
«.e. reversed.  Suprcmc  Court  of  thc  Uuitcd  States,  and  argued  by  Wil- 
liam Wirt  and  John  Sargeant  on  the  20th,  21st  and  23d  of  February. 
No  one  appeared  before  the  Court  in  behalf  of  Georgia.  On  the  3d  of 
March,  Chief  Justice  Marshall  pronounced  the  decision  of  the  Court  in 
favor  of  the  missionaries,  declaring  the  laws  of  Georgia,  extending  her 
jurisdiction  over  the  Cherokee  country,  to  be  repugnant  to  the  constitu- 
tion, treaties  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  and,  therefore,  null  and  void. 
The  mandate  of  the  Court  was  immediately  issued,  reversing  and  annul- 
ling the  judgment  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Georgia,  and  ordering  that 
all  proceedings  on  the  indictment  against  the  missionaries  "  do  forever 
surcease,"  and  that  they  "  be,  and  hereby  are,  dismissed  therefrom."  On 
the  17th  of  March,  Mr.  Chester,  supported  by  Mr.  Underwood  and  Gen. 
Harden,  moved,  in  the  Superior  Court  of  Georgia,  that  this  mandate  be 
received  and  recorded,  and  the  prisoners  discharged.  The  Court  refused 
to  obey  the  mandate.  According  to  the  regular  course  of  law,  a  record 
of  this  refusal  should  be  carried  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  which  should  then  proceed  to  enforce  its  own  decision.    To  pre- 


1832.]  CHEROKEE   COUNTRY    SEIZED.      CHICKASAWS.  267 

vent  this,  the  Court  refused  to  allow  its  own  decision,  or  any  matter  re- 
lating to  it,  to  be  recorded.  To  supply  this  deficiency,  for  which  the 
statutes  had  made  no  provision,  Mr.  Chester  made  his  affidavit  of  these 
facts,  which,  Judge  Clayton  certified,  was  sworn  before  him.  Mr.  Ches- 
ter then  applied  by  letter  to  the  Governor,  Lumpkin,  to  discharge  the 
prisoners,  but  he  refused  to  answer  in  writing  ;  saying, "  You  got  round 
Clayton,  but  you  shall  not  get  round  me." 

Meanwhile,  the  work  of  taking  possession  of  the  Chero-  Cherokee  coumrr 
kee  country  went  on.  A  law  of  Georgia  forbade  the  Cher- 
okee government  to  act,  or  to  exist.  An  armed  force  was  sent  to  ar- 
rest the  members  of  the  national  council,  if  they  should  attempt  to  meet ; 
and  the  meeting  was  thus  prevented.  The  country  was  laid  out  into 
lots  of  140  acres  each,  to  be  distributed  by  lottery.  Possession  was  to 
be  given  immediately,  except  in  cases  of  lots  on  which  Cherokees  were 
actually  residing.  White  men  crowded  into  the  nation  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  vacant  lots,  even  before  the  lottery  was  drawn.  Some  of 
these  were  appointed  justices  of  the  peace,  and  a  show  was  made  of  en- 
forcing the  civil  code  of  Georgia.  Whisky  was  brought  in  without  re- 
straint ;  many  of  the  disheartened  Cherokees  gave  themselves  up  to  in- 
temperance and  kindred  vices,  and  some — about  500,  it  was  said, — emi- 
grated to  the  west.  The  drawing  of  the  lottery  commenced  on  the  22d 
of  October,  and,  after  a  short  suspension,  to  investigate  certain  frauds  in 
the  manner  of  conducting  it,  was  soon  completed.  The  legislature  met 
early  in  November.  The  Governor,  in  his  message,  stated  what  progress 
had  been  made  in  taking  possession  of  the  Cherokee  lands,  and  the  leg- 
islature repealed  the  law  under  which  the  missionaries  had  been  impris- 
oned.— On  the  28th  of  November,  the  missionaries  gave  notice  to  the 
Governor  and  Attorney  General  of  Georgia,  of  their  intention  to  move 
the  Supreme  Court  for  further  proceedings  in  their  case  at  its  session  on 
the  second  of  February.  The  result  belongs  to  the  history  of  another 
year  ;  and  some  transactions  connected  with  it  will  be  more  convenient- 
ly related  in  that  connection. 

Still,  missionary  labors  were  not  wholly  suspended,  even  within  the 
limits  claimed  by  Georgia.  Several  of  the  schools  were  continued,  under 
the  care  of  female  teachers.  Mr.  Butrick,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  Mr.  Thom- 
son and  John  Huss  occasionally  visited  the  churches,  preached,  and  ad- 
ministered gospel  ordinances  ;  several  native  church  members  were 
faithful,  industrious  and  successful  in  their  evangelical  labors ;  and  during 
the  year,  some  were  awakened,  converted,  and  added  to  the  churches. 

The  Chickasaws  found  this  year,  like  the  last,  a  year  of  chickasawi. 
gloom  and  downward  progress.  In  October  they  made  a  treaty,  ac- 
cording to  which  their  lands  were  to  be  surveyed  and  sold,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  and  the  proceeds  paid 
over  to  them.  From  these,  they  were  to  provide  themselves  a  country 
and  remove  to  it,  or  remain  on  one-third  of  their  present  territory,  sub- 
ject to  the  laws  of  Mississippi.  Meanwhile  those  laws  were  permitting 
unprincipled  white  men  to  deluge  the  land  with  whisky,  and  fill  it  with 


268  HISTORY   OF  THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1832. 

vice  and  wo,  and  the  missions  were  making  arrangements  to  close  their 
labors. 

choctaws.  Removal.  The  rcmoval  of  the  Choctaws  went  on,  and  the  amount 
of  unavoidable  suffering  was  great.  Some,  in  crossing  the  swamps  of 
the  Mississippi,  were  surrounded  by  the  rising  waters,  from  which  there 
were  no  means  of  escape.  The  captain  of  a  steamboat  took  off  one 
company,  who  had  been  confined  six  days  in  this  perilous  condition,  and 
were  near  perishing  with  hunger.  He  saw  at  least  100  horses  standing 
frozen  dead  in  the  mud.  Many  died  of  sickness,  brought  on  by  exposure 
and  fatigue,  and  many  by  the  cholera.  The  Christian  Choctaws  had 
morning  and  evening  worship  in  their  tents  or  boats,  and  refused  to  la- 
bor on  the  Sabbath,  or  to  travel,  unless  compelled.  The  captain  of  a 
boat  that  carried  one  party  remarked,  that  they  were  the  most  religious 
people  he  ever  had  to  do  with  ;  and  another  said  that  "  their  sing- 
ing and  praying  made  the  passage  appear  like  a  continued  meeting  ;" 
and  an  agent,  who  had  the  best  opportunities  for  judging,  said  that  the 
trouble  of  removing  those  who  had  been  under  missionary  instruction 
was  less  by  one  half,  than  that  of  removing  the  others.  Meanwhile,  the 
schools  were  gradually  closed,  and  the  missions  broken  up.  It  was  de- 
termined that,  in  the  new  Choctaw  country,  no  boarding  schools  or 
large  farming  establishments  should  be  opened  by  theBoard>  and  there- 
fore a  less  number  of  laborers  would  be  needed.  Some  of  the  mission- 
aries therefore  retired  from  the  service.  Others  prepared  to  follow  their 
people  to  the  west,  and  a  few  remained  to  close  up  the  concerns  of  the 
mission,  and  to  give  such  instruction  and  exert  such  good  influence  as 
should  be  possible,  during  the  breaking  up  of  the  nation.  The  Board 
relinquished  to  the  nation  the  annuity,  which  was  due  annually  till  1836. 
New  chociaw  Thc  couutry  to  which  the  Choctaws  were  removing,  is 

ott.itry.  bounded  on  the  east  by  Arkansas,  on  the  north  by  the  Ar- 

kansas river,  on  the  south  by  the  Red  river,  and  on  the  west  by  the  lands 
of  other  tribes.  Mr.  Williams  arrived  among  them  and  selected  the  site 
for  a  new  mission  on  the  12th  of  July.  He  chose  a  place  near  the  prin- 
cipal ford  of  the  mountain  fork  of  the  Little  river,  and  about  ten  miles 
from  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  country.  He  called  it  Bethabara. 
About  1000  of  the  Choctaws  were  settled  within  five  miles,  and  at  least 
3000  within  25  miles.  In  a  few  weeks,  he  opened  a  school  with  25 
scholars ;  the  parents  ofl^ering  to  pay  three  or  four  dollars  a  quarter  for 
each  pupil.  The  health  of  Mrs.  Williams,  the  teacher,  failed,  and  the 
school  was  discontinued  after  three  months.  It  could  not  be  resumed 
till  the  next  year.  A  church  was  organized  on  the  19th  of  August,  with 
57  members,  all  of  whom  but  one  had  belonged  to  churches,  previous 
to  their  removal.  In  November,  18  others  were  added,  three  of  whom 
were  new  members. — Mr.  W^right,  who  had  been  detained  by  journeys 
and  sickness,  entered  his  new  field  of  labor  on  the  14th  of  September. 
He  selected  a  site  about  18  miles  east  of  Fort  Towson,  which  he  called 
Wheeloek,  in  memory  of  the  first  president  of  Dartmouth  College.  At 
least  2000  of  those  among  whom  he  formerly  labored  were  settled  around 


1832.]  WESTERN  MISSIONS.      REVIVAL.      CREEK  MISSION.  269 

him,  within  ten  or  twelve  miles.  A  church  was  organized  on  the  second 
Sabbath  in  December,  with  37  members,  seven  of  whom  had  not  before 
been  members  of  any  church.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hotchkin  and  Mr.  Moul- 
ton  arrived  early  in  December. — Besides  pubhc  worship  on  the  Sab- 
bath, frequent  meetings  were  held  by  the  missionaries  on  other  days ;  and 
meetings  for  prayer  and  religious  conversation  were  often  held  by  the 
pious  Choctaws,  when  no  missionary  was  present. 

Among  the  tribes  north  of  the  Arkansas,  the  awakening  western  Missions. 
continued.  Early  in  the  spring,  a  series  of  meetings  was 
held  among  the  Cherokees,  Creeks  and  Osages,  with  happy  results.  The 
first  was  at  Dwight.  Six  missionaries  were  present  and  assisted.  More 
than  40,  hitherto  impenitent,  requested  public  prayer  for  their  own  salva- 
tion, and  some,  it  was  hoped,  submitted  themselves  to  God.  Then  a 
still  more  interesting  and  effective  meeting  was  held  at  the  Forks  of  the 
Illinois,  Here,  all  appeared  to  be  affected,  and  some  found  hope  of  par- 
don. The  party  then  repaired  to  Dr.  Weed's,  who  had  already  settled 
in  the  Creek  country,  on  an  invitation  from  the  chiefs,  with  a  promise  of 
$400  a  year  for  the  support  of  his  family  and  the  purchase  of  medicine. 
Here  the  awakening  had  been  stea(Hly  in  progress  for  more  than  two 
years  ;  though  the  majority  of  the  nation  hated  Christianity,  and  despised 
all  who  attended  on  its  ordinances.  The  Lord's  Supper  was  adminis- 
tered to  about  60  communicants,  and  nearly  40  came  forward  to  avow 
their  anxiety  for  salvation.  Among  the  Osages,  visits  were  made  and 
meetings  held  in  all  the  villages  but  two.  Here  they  found  no  instances 
of  conviction  of  sin  and  anxiety  for  pardon ;  but  they  [found  and  promot- 
ed an  increasing  conviction  of  the  folly  of  idolatry,  and  of  the  value  of 
Christianity. 

As  the  season  advanced,  the  awakening  extended  among  the  Che- 
rokees. May  18,  Mr.  Washburn  reported  59  members  of  the  church, 
and  nine  propounded  for  admission.  The  number  of  converts  then  was 
believed  to  be  at  least  70.  The  awakening  was  more  extensive  than 
ever  before.  Instances  of  special  seriousness  were  known  to  exist  in 
every  settlement  in  the  nation.  At  Fairfield,  Dr.  Palmer's  station,  a 
new  impulse  was  given  to  the  work  late  in  May,  and  in  June  it  was  rap- 
idly increasing.  In  September,  13  were  propounded ;  making  more 
than  30  who  gave  evidence  of  conversion  in  that  neighborhood  within 
about  a  year.  The  temperance  society  advanced.  A  female  society 
had  a  circulating  library  of  150  volumes,  and  expected  to  add  200  more 
within  a  year.  A  society  of  males  was  procuring  and  distributing  Che- 
rokee Testaments,  hymn  books  and  tracts. — This  state  of  things  con- 
tinued through  the  year. 

Among  the  Creeks,  Dr.  Weed  labored  alone,  except  creek  Mission. 
occasional  visits  from  his  ministerial  brethren.  Mr.  Vaill  made  a  visit  in 
July,  when  18  were  admitted  to  the  church,  making  the  whole  number 
81.  Schools  were  anxiously  desired  by  the  people,  and  Mrs.  Weed  com- 
menced a  small  one  in  the  autumn ;  but,  as  the  children  were  destitute 
of  the  necessary  clothing,  it  was  suspended  at  the  approach  of  winter.    A 


270  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1832. 

Baptist  missionary  to  the  Choctaws,  passing  through  the  nation  and 
seeing  their  wants,  began  to  labor  among  them.  In  October,  he  had 
formed  a  church,  and  admitted  40  members,  and  expected  soon  to  baptize 
40  more.  The  Methodists,  too,  had  received  at  least  200,  including 
"  seekers,"  into  their  society.  The  introduction  of  sectarian  distinctions, 
in  the  end,  proved  a  serious  evil. 

osages.  At  Harmony,  the  preceding  year  closed  with  hopes, 

which  were  not  disappointed.  On  the  third  of  June,  13  persons  were 
received  into  the  church ;  eleven  by  profession,  and  two  by  letter.  Of 
these,  two  were  Osages,  two  Delawares,  two  of  African  descent,  and 
seven  children  of  missionaries.  Hope  was  indulged  of  the  piety  of  others. 
On  the  first  Sabbath  in  November,  nine  more  were  admitted ;  making  20 
wathin  the  year,  as  the  fruits  of  this  awakening;  15  of  whom  had  been 
members  of  the  school. 

Northern  Missions.  Thc  MaumcB  ffiission  was  drawung  towards  its  close.    In 

the  autumn,the  Ottawas  sold  to  the  United  States  all  their  land  in  the  State 
of  Ohio,  except  a  few  small  reservations  to  some  of  the  chiefs.  They 
still  retained  a  tract  of  about  27,000  acres  at  the  mouth  of  the  Maumee, 
in  Michigan.  No  new  country  was  provided  for  them,  and  they  refused 
to  cross  the  Mississippi.  Mr.  Van  Tassel,  with  the  assent  of  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee,  offered  the  use  of  land  belonging  to  the  mission,  to  such 
as  would  erect  buildings  and  open  fields  upon  it ;  but  few  were  inclined 
to  acept  the  offer. 

Among  the  Ojibwas,  the  gospel  was  preached  by  an  interpreter  to  a 
few.  Some  gave  serious  attention,  and  one  or  two  appeared  to  em- 
brace its  offers.  A  school  was  kept  up  at  La  Pointe,  with  from  12  to 
25  scholars.  In  autumn,  another  was  opened  at  Sandy  Lake.  In  June, 
Mr.  Boutwell  accompanied  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  agent  for  Indian  Affairs,  on 
an  exploring  tour,  as  far  west  as  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
party  travelled  about  2400  miles,  mostly  in  bark  canoes,  of  Indian  con- 
struction, and  returned  to  Lake  Superior  about  the  first  of  September. 
This  journey  w^as  made  at  the  invitation  and  expense  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft. 

This  was  another  good  year  to  the  Indians  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
In  January,  13  were  admitted  to  the  church  at  Seneca,  three  at  Catta- 
raugus and  eleven  at  Alleghany.  In  April,  five  were  admitted  at  Se- 
neca. In  June,  13  were  admitted  at  Alleghany.  Here  a  protracted 
meeting  was  held  in  August,  at  which  there  were  some  conversions.  On 
the  2d  of  November,  the  Rev.  Asher  Bliss  arrived  with  his  wife  at  Cat- 
taraugus. The  Indians,  hearing  of  his  arrival,  which  had  been  expected, 
came  together  for  a  protracted  meeting  on  the  next  day.  It  continued 
for  six  days ;  and  besides  its  general  good  influence,  was  believed  to 
be  the  means  of  some  conversions. 

Sandwich  Islands.  The  dcath  of  Naihc,  ou  thc  29th  of  December,  1831, 

was  followed  by  some  diminution  of  attendance  on  public  worship  at 
Kaawaloa;  showing  that  much  of  the  apparent  religiousness  of  the 
people  arose  from  the  influence  of  the  chiefs.  His  widow, "  the  admirable 
Kapiolani,"  exerted  herself  with  increasing  singleness  of  heart  to  pro- 


1832.]  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.      REVIVAL   AT   KAUAI.  271 

mote  the  best  interests  of  her  people ;  a  sense  of  religious  duty  seemed 
to  spring  up  in  others,  who  had  formerly  leaned  wholly  on  their  chief; 
and  the  congregation  again  increased.  At  several  stations,  the  influ- 
ence of  novelty  seemed  to  be  dying  away,  while  that  of  rehgion  was 
gaining  strength ;  and  the  number  of  serious  hearers  increased,  while  the 
whole  number  of  attendants  diminished. 

The  large  reinforcement  arrived  on  the  17th  of  May.  A  general 
meeting  of  the  mission  was  held,  and  they  were  assigned  to  their  res- 
pective fields  of  labor. 

Kaahumanu  was  ill  when  the  reinforcement  arriv-  Death  of  Kaahumanu. 
ed,  and  received  them  at  her  house.  She  soon  after  rapidly  de- 
clined, and  died  on  the  5th  of  June.  She  was  58  years  of  age.  Her 
piety  grew  brighter  to  the  last ;  so  much  that  some  of  the  foreign  resi- 
dents, who  had  formerly  spoken  lightly  of  it,  now  acknowledged  its 
reality.  Some  days  before  her  death,  she  settled  all  her  worldly  affairs, 
called  the  young  king  and  gave  him  her  dying  charge,  and  appointed 
her  sister,  Kinau,  her  successor.  The  general  meeting  of  the  mission 
adjourned  to  attend  her  funeral.  Mr.  Bingham  preached  from  the 
triumphant  words  of  Paul — "  I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished 
my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a 
crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give 
me  at  that  day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them  also  that  love  his 
appearing."  The  mission  also  resolved  that  a  funeral  sermon  on  this 
occasion  be  preached  at  each  of  the  stations. 

At  Waimea,  on  Kauai,  the  funeral  sermon  in  memory  RevhRi  on  Ka,mi. 
of  Kaahumanu  was  preached  by  Mr.  Whitney.  On  the  same  day,  he 
preached  a  farewell  sermon  in  view  of  his  own  absence  on  a  voyage  to 
the  Society  and  Washington  Islands.  These  sermons  were  the  means  of 
an  aw^akening,  which  was  sustained  by  the  labors  of  Mr.  Gulick  and 
some  native  Christians,  till  the  end  of  October,  when  Mr.  Bingham  came 
to  their  assistance.  His  arrival  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  work.  On 
the  second  day  after  his  arrival,  more  than  60,  who  appeared  to  be  really 
awakened,  called  to  converse  with  him.  There  were  inquirers,  and  appa- 
rent conversions,  and  some  admissions  to  the  churches,  at  the  other  sta- 
tions ;  but  no  general  awakening.  The  whole  number  admitted  during 
the  year  ending  in  June,  1832,  was  235 ;  making  the  whole  number 
since  the  commencement  of  the  mission,  577.  Of  these,  about  one  in 
100  had  been  excommunicated,  and  about  four  in  a  hundred  had  died 
in  hope.     There  were  also  45  who  had  been  propounded  for  admission. 

The  "  tabu  meetings,"  or  moral  societies,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
modify,  if  not  to  abolish.  They  had  been  useful,  and  still,  perhaps, 
strengthened  the  infirm  purposes  of  some  of  their  members  to  live  lives 
of  external  morality.  But  it  was  found  that  many,  having  joined  one 
of  these  societies,  felt  that  they  had  become  good,  and  were  worthy  of 
heaven  ;  and  the  self-righteousness,  thus  encouraged  and  sustained,  kept 
them  from  Christ.  These  societies  were,  therefore,  suffered  to  fall  into 
neglect,  or  thrown  open  to  all,  or  otherwise  so  modified  as  to  relieve 
them  from  this  objection. 


272 


HISTORY  OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1832. 


The  number  who  belonged  to  the  schools  was  not  reported  at  the 
general  meeting.  The  number  able  to  read,  ascertained  at  every  sta- 
tion but  one  by  actual  enumeration,  was  23,127.  Schools  for  the  im- 
provement of  teachers  were  taught  at  nearly  all  the  stations,  and  with 
some  success.  The  High  School  increased  to  more  than  60  scholars, 
including  the  king  and  some  of  his  attendants.  The  manual  labor 
system  was  early  introduced.  A  substantial  school-house,  50  feet  by 
26,  was  erected  and  covered,  and  writing-desks  and  seats  were  made, 
by  the  labor  of  the  students. 


se^v  staiioiis.  Thrcc  ncw  stations  were  formed  this  year ;  one  at  Wailuku, 
on  Maui,  in  a  tract  of  country  containing  more  than  25,000  souls,  by  Mr. 
Green ;  one  at  Kaluaha,  on  Molokai,  by  Mr.  Hitchcock ;  and  one  at 
Waialua,  on  Oahu,  by  Mr.  Emerson,  assisted,  at  first,  by  Mr.  CJark. 


1832.]  MISSION  TO   THE   WASHINGTON  ISLANDS.  273 

All  opened  with  encouraging  prospects.  At  Wailuku,  a  school-house 
w^as  erected,  118  feet  long  and  40  wide,  capable  of  holding  2,000  per- 
sons ;  and  Auwae,  the  leading  chief  of  the  district,  prepared  to  build  a 
house  of  worship,  as  large  as  the  missionaries  should  think  desirable. 
Mr.  Green  made  special  efforts  to  bring  the  children  into  school,  and 
with  some  success.  He  met  with  much  difficulty,  from  the  almost 
entire  absence  of  family  government ;  but  it  was  gratifying  to  know 
that  parents  had  learned  to  let  their  children  live,  instead  of  putting 
them  to  death  to  avoid  the  burden  of  supporting  them  ;  and  it  might  be 
hoped  that  they  would,  in  time,  learn  to  bring  them  up  "  in  the  nurture 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord." 

An  unusual  number  of  vessels  resorted  to  Lahaina;  perhaps, 
because  Hoapili,  the  governor,  had  effectually  banished  the  means  of 
intoxication,  while  the  traffick  in  ardent  spirits  was  but  imperfectly 
suppressed  at  Honolulu.  Fourteen  captains  of  vessels  and  150  seamen 
were  seen  at  one  time  at  public  worship,  and  religion  was  evidently 
making  progress  among  that  class  of  visitors. 

A  fifth  reinforcement,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Benjamin  W.  Parker 
and  Rev.  Lowell  Smith,  with  their  wives,  and  Mr.  Lemuel  Fuller, 
printer,  sailed  from  New  London  on  the  21st  of  November. 

In  1829,  the  Rev.  C.  S.  Stewart  visited  the  Washing-  Mission  to  the 
ton  or  Northern  Marquesas  Islands,  in  the  U.  S.  ship  Vin-  ^^-'"-g-" i^'-"- 
cennes  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  his  representations,  the  Committee 
instructed  the  Sandwich  Island  mission,  conditionally,  to  send  some  of 
their  own  number  to  those  islands.  A  correspondence  was  accordingly 
opened  with  the  English  missionaries  in  the  South  Pacific,  by  which  it 
was  ascertained  that  they  had  already  sent  several  native  teachers  to 
the  Marquesas,  and  written  home  for  help  from  England  to  carry  on 
the  work.  As  the  result  of  this  correspondence,  Messrs.  Whitney, 
Tinker  and  Alexander,  sailed  for  the  Society  Islands,  on  the  18th  of 
July.  There  was  a  pleasant  and  profitable  interchange  of  sentiments 
on  the  whole  subject  of  missions  in  the  Pacific.  The  English  brethren 
preferred  that  the  proposed  mission  should  be  delayed  till  they  could 
hear  from  London  ;  but  should  this  be  deemed  inexpedient,  they  con- 
sented to  relinquish  the  northern  group  to  their  American  brethren. 
They,  after  visiting  the  Washington  Islands,  believed  that  a  mission 
might  be  commenced  with  a  fair  prospect  of  success,  and  so  reported  on 
their  return.  The  subject  was  referred  to  the  general  meeting  in  June 
of  the  next  year. 


35 


274  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1833. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

1833. — Annual  Meeting  at  Philadelphia. — New  Auxiliaries. — Southern  and 
Central  Boards. — Mahrattas. — Conversions  and  organization  of  a  Church 
at  Ahmednuggur. — Ceylon. — Death  of  Mrs.  Winsiovv. — Mr.  Winslow  re- 
turns.— Reinforcement  with  consent  of  the  government. — Fire  at  Tillipally. 
China. — Mission  reinforced. — Leang  Afa  among  the  graduates. — Mr.  Abeel 
returns. — Mission  to  Siam. — Embarkation  of  Munson  and  Lyman. — Malta 
abandoned,  and  Press  removed  to  Smyrna. — Greece. — Ecclesiastical  Con- 
stitution.— Constantinople. — Schools  in  the  Turkish  barracks. — Ordination 
of  Armenian  priests. — Nestorians. — Mr.  Perkins  embarks. —  Beirut. — Mission 
reinforced. — Station  at  Jerusalem. — Mr.  Bird's  reply  to  Butrus. — Mission  to 
Western  Africa. — Patagonia  explored. — Indian  Missions. — Release  of  Wor- 
cester and  Butler. — John  Huss  ordained. — Stephen  Foreman  licensed. — 
Chickasaw  Mission  reduced. — Removal  of  the  Choctaws  completed. — New 
Stations  among  them. — Sickness  and  Death.s. — Deaths  at  Dwight. — Awak- 
ening continues. — Ojibwa  printing. — Mackinaw  and  Maumee  reduced. — 
Sandwich  Islands. — The  king  assumes  the  government. — Relaxation  of  the 
laws. — Declension  of  morals,  and  of  attendance  on  instruction. — Eftbrts  of 
chiefs. — Seamen's  Friend  Society. — Washington  Islands. — Mission  aban- 
doned. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Philadelphia  on  the  18th,  19th  and 
20th  of  September.  The  receipts  for  the  financial  year  had  been  nearly 
$146,000,  exceeding  those  of  the  last  year  by  more  than  $15,000. 
The  expenses  had  been  about  $150,000.  The  Board  had  also  received 
from  other  societies  and  expended  17,920  ;  making  its  total  of  disburse- 
ments, $167,826,27. — At  this  meeting,  a  letter  from  Sir  Alexander 
Johnstone  was  read,  communicating  a  resolution  of  the  subscribers  to 
the  Oriental  Translation  Fund  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  which 
the  value  of  the  labors  of  the  Board  in  Ceylon  is  gratefully  acknow- 
ledged. 

During  this  year,  some  new  arrangements  were  made  for  conduct- 
ing the  domestic  operations  of  the  Board.  New  England  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  Middle  States  had  already  been  divided  into  districts, 
and  a  permanent  agent  appointed  in  each,  who  was  expected  to  visit 
auxiliaries,  churches,  and  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  and  superintend  the 
whole  business  of  raising  funds.  In  October  of  this  year,  the  Foreign 
Missionary  Societies  of  the  Western  Reserve  and  the  Valley  of  the 
Mississippi  were  formed,  auxiliary  to  the  Board.  The  latter  had  its 
centre  of  operations  at  Cincinnati ;  and  the  two  were  expected  to  con- 
duct the  whole  business  of  raising  funds  beyond  the  Alleghany  moun- 
tains. In  October,  too,  the  Central  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was 
formed  by  the  Synods  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  with  its  execu- 
tive committee,  its  treasurer  and  its  secretary,  who  should  ordinarily  be 
appointed  as  a  general  agent  of  the  American  Board.     The  missiona- 


1833.]  MAHRATTAS.      CEYLON.  275 

ries  from  within  its  bounds  were  to  be  commissioned  and  directed  and 
its  funds  expended  by  the  American  Board.  In  December,  the  Synod 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  formed  the  Southern  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  on  the  same  plan.  The  benign  influence  of  the  formation  of 
this  Board  and  of  the  discussions  which  attended  it,  upon  the  spirit  of 
piety  and  brotherly  love  in  the  Synod,  was  acknowledged  by  a  solemn 
vote  of  thanks  to  the  great  Author  of  all  good. 

JNIr.  Sampson  arrived  at  Bombay  in  May,  to  take  charge  Eon.bay. 

of  the  press.  Mr.  Allen  embarked  on  his  return  to  Bombay  in  July, 
but  did  not  arrive  till  January  7,  1834.  Mrs.  Stone  died  in  August,  of 
an  affection  of  the  liver.  ]\Ir.  Read,  Mr.  Ramsay  and  their  wives  were 
laid  aside  much  of  the  time  by  sickness. 

At  Bombay,  two  Indo-Britons  w^ere  received  into  the  church,  and 
several  natives  requested  admission,  but  were  deferred.  A  Mussulman, 
who  had  been  awakened  by  a  New  Testament  given  him  by  Mr.  Gar- 
rett, was  received  into  the  Scottish  mission  church.  Several  other  cases 
of  the  kind  are  known  to  have  occurred  ;  and  perhaps  the  native  con- 
verts are  not  to  be  severely  blamed,  for  preferring  to  be  ecclesiastically 
connected  with  the  people  w^ho  govern  the  country.  The  Oriental 
Christian  Spectator  was  given  up  to  the  Scottish  mission,  and  the  Jour- 
nalist and  Missionary  Reporter  was  commenced. 

At  Ahmednuggur,  four  native  converts  were  received    n,„rch  at  Ahmed- 
into  the  church  in  February ;  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  a     ""'''"'' 
Presbyterian  Church  was  organized,  with  14  members,  ten  of  whom 
were  Hindoos.     Mr.  Read  was  made  its  pastor,  Babajee  elder,  and 
Dajeeba  deacon.     Another  Hindoo  was  added  during  the  year. 

Frequent  and  extensive  journeys  were  made  from  these  stations,  for 
preaching  the  gospel  and  distributing  books  and  tracts.  It  appeared 
evident  that  many  thousands  were  convinced  of  the  falsehood  of  Hin- 
dooism  and  the  superiority  of  Christianity.  But  this  afforded  no  ground 
to  expect  numerous  conversions  ;  for  a  Hindoo  feels  under  no  obligation 
to  give  up  his  religion  just  because  he  knows  it  to  be  false. 

In  Ceylon,  Mrs.  Winslow  died  suddenly  on  the  14th  of  ceyio,,  Musion. 
January,  having  been  a  member  of  the  mission  for  thirteen  years.  In 
consequence  of  this  bereavement,  Mr.  Winslow  was  designated,  instead 
of  Mr.  Meigs,  to  accompany  several  children  of  missionaries  to  the 
United  States.  In  September,  he  left  Ceylon,  with  his  three  daughters 
and  seven  daughters  of  his  brethren,  and  arrived  at  Philadelphia  in 
March  of  the  next  year. 

The  Rev.  Messrs.  William  Todd,  Samuel  Hutchings,  Henry  R. 
Hoisington  and  George  H.  Apthorp,  and  Dr.  Nathan  Ward,  with  their 
wives,  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  first  of  July,  and  arrived  at  Jalfna  in 
October.  The  Rev.  James  R.  Eckhard  and  Mr.  E.  S.  Minor,  printer, 
sailed  from  Salem  in  October,  and  arrived  in  February  of  the  next  year. 
The  permission  of  the  Briti^^h  government  for  an  enlargement  of  the 
mission  had  been  received  in  April. 

The  school  bungalow  at  Tillipally  and  the  out-houses  attached  to  it 


276 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1833. 


were  consumed  by  fire  on  the  26th  of  June,  and  the  house  of  worship, 
with  nearly  all  the  Tamul  books  and  tracts  belonging  to  the  station, 
on  the  11th  of  August.  These  fires  were  probably  the  work  of  a 
cooley,  who  had  been  dismissed  from  the  employment  of  the  mission  for 
bad  conduct. 

This  year,  seventeen  members  were  added  to  the  church. 
Mission  to  China.  Thc  Rcv.  Ira  Tracy  and  Mr.  S.  W.  Williams,  who 

sailed  from  New  York  in  June,  joined  Mr.  Bridgman  at  Canton  in  Oc- 
tober. Mr.  Williams  immediately  took  charge  of  the  press ;  but  all 
were  obliged  to  devote  themselves  principally  to  the  study  of  the  lan- 
guage. But  they  were  not  alone  in  their  labors.  Mr.  Gutzlaff  contin- 
ued his  voyages  along  the  coast,  and  Leang  Afa  was  busy  in  preparing 
and  distributing  Christian  tracts.  In  October,  he  distributed  2500 
copies  of  Scripture  tracts  and  of  his  own  "  Good  Words  to  admonish 
the  Age,"  among  the  24,000  literary  graduates  who  were  assembled  at 
a  public  examination  at  Canton.  He  believed  that  he  could  profitably 
distribute  50,000  volumes  a  year. 


Leaug  Ala  and  his  Sons. 


Southeastern  Asi. 


Mr.  Abeel  was  usefully  employed  at  Singapore  till 
May.  His  health  was  failing  under  the  influence  of  the  climate ;  and 
having  received  an  invitation  from  the  Prudential  Committee  to  return 
and  labor  for  a  time  as  an  agent  among  his  brethren  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  he  sailed  for  London,  where  he  arrived  in  October.  By 
the  advice  of  physicians,  who  feared  the  effects  of  an  English  winter,  he 


1833.]  MALTA   ABANDONED.      GREECE.  277 

repaired  to  Paris,  intending  soon  to  visit  Holland  for  missionary  pur- 
poses. 

The  Rev.  Messrs.  Charles  Robinson  and  Stephen  Johnson,  with 
their  wives,  embarked  at  Boston,  on  the  10th  of  June,  to  commence  a 
permanent  mission  in  Siam.  They  reached  Singapore  in  the  autumn, 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  attempted  to  proceed  to  Siam  ;  but  having 
encountered  calms,  head  winds  and  currents  for  46  days  and  advanced 
only  300  miles,  they  were  obliged  to  return  to  Singapore. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Munson  and  Rev.  Henry  Lyman,  with  their 
wives,  embarked  with  the  brethren  last  mentioned,  with  instructions  to 
explore  the  Indian  Archipelago  j  especially  Java,  Sumatra,  Borneo, 
Celebes,  the  Moluccas,  and  the  neighboring  islands.  Having  arrived 
at  Batavia  in  September,  they  spent  the  remainder  of  the  year  in  making 
preparation  for  their  future  labors. 

Malta  ceased  to  be  one  of  the  stations  of  the  Board  at  R.movai  from  Maiu. 
the  close  of  this  year.  Mr.  Temple  and  Mr.  Hallock,  w^ith  the  printing 
establishment,  left  the  island  on  the  7th  of  December,  and  arrived  at 
Smyrna  on  the  23d.  Dionysius  Carabet  accompanied  them  as  a  trans- 
lator. Mr.  Smith  left  Malta  on  the  12th,  and  arrived  at  Alexandria  on 
the  25th,  on  his  way  to  Beirut.  The  whole  amount  of  printing  done  at 
Malta,  from  the  establishment  of  the  press  in  July,  1822,  to  the  lime  of 
its  removal,  was  about  350,000  volumes,  containing  21,000,000  pages. 
Nearly  the  whole  had  been  put  into  circulation,  and  additional  supplies 
of  some  of  the  works  were  urgently  demanded.  During  almost  his 
whole  residence  here,  Mr.  Temple  preached  twice  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
at  least  once  on  some  other  day  each  week,  in  English  ;  and  especially 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  time,  several  members  of  the  missions  had 
performed  valuable  labors  in  the  education  of  youth. 

Mr.  Riggs  arrived  at  Athens  on  the  28th  of  January ;  Greece. 

and  having  already  acquired  some  knowledge   of  modern  Greek,  was 
soon  able  to  give  religious  instruction  in  the  schools. 

The  government  of  the  country  was  now  passing  into  the  hands  of 
the  newly  elected  king,  Otho  of  Bavaria.  The  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion was  adopted  during  the  summer,  by  which  the  Greek  Church  in 
Greece  was  made  independent  of  the  Patriarch  at  Constantinople,  and 
placed  under  the  government  of  the  "  Holy  Council  of  the  kingdom  of 
Greece,"  which  was  to  guard  both  the  clergy  and  the  schools  against 
heresy,  and  to  report  any  attempt  to  disturb  the  church  by  prose- 
lyting or  other  means,  to  the  civil  government.  In  September,  a  law 
was  published,  forbidding  the  sale  of  books  without  license,  obtained 
from  the  local  authorities  for  cities,  and  from  the  Minister  of  the  In- 
terior for  country  places.  The  laws  were  not  so  administered  as  to  in- 
terfere seriously  with  the  labors  of  the  mission. 

The  girls'  school  was  suspended  in  May,  on  the  return  of  Anaslasia, 
the  instructress,  to  Smyrna.  The  schools  for  boys  were  remodelled,  and 
the  higher  department  was  named  "The  Evangelical  Gymnasium." 
Here  students  who  could  sustain  an  examination  in  reading,  writing  and 


278  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1833. 

arithmetic,  entered  upon  a  well  arranged  course  of  study  for  four  years, 
corresponding,  as  well  as  the  circumstances  of  the  country  would  per- 
mit, with  the  studies  of  a  New  England  College.  Anastasius  Kara- 
velles,  who  had  been  educated  at  Amherst,  was  one  of  the  teachers.  A 
month  after  the  publication  of  the  prospectus,  the  Gymnasium  contained 
66  scholars,  and  the  Elementary  School  76. 

constaniinopie.  Thc  Grcck  schools  at  Constantinople  remained  much  as 

last  year.  But  the  school-house  at  Buyuk  Dereh  had  been  built  at  the 
expense  of  the  mission.  This  made  the  mission  too  prominent  in  the 
work.  It  looked  like  foreign  interference,  and  excited  jealousy.  The 
Latins  set  themselves  against  it ;  the  Greeks  supported  it  but  feebly, 
and  it  was  thought  best  to  give  up  the  school. 

Anneiiian  Schci.-.  X^e  Armeuians  here  had  a  good  number  of  schools,  and 

a  tolerable  supply  of  books  for  spelling  and  reading,  grammar  and 
arithmetic.  A  priest  at  Broosa,  about  this  time,  translated  the  book  of 
directions  for  establishing  and  conducting  Lancasterian  schools,  from 
the  modern  Greek  into  Armenian.  Measures  were  taken  to  supply 
such  books,  cards  and  other  apparatus  as  were  still  wanting,  and  an 
Armenian  v/ho  gave  some  evidence  of  piety  was  employed  to  open  a 
school  at  Pera,  to  which  place  the  brethren  removed  in  August. 
School,  in  (he  Turk-  In  1831,  some  enemy  of  the  mission  called  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Turkish  government  to  these  schools.  The 
reader  will  recollect  the  result.  Since  that  time,  the  schools  had  occa- 
sionally been  visited  by  Turkish  officers,  who  expressed  their  approba- 
tion of  the  system,  and  their  desire  for  its  introduction  among  themselves. 
One  of  them  left  a  donation  of  500  piastres  for  the  Greek  school  at 
Arnaoot  Koy.  Several  of  them  attended  the  examination  of  this  school 
in  July ;  and  at  its  close,  after  a  long  conversation  with  the  agent  of 
the  mission,  told  him  that  Ahmed  Pasha,  the  Sultan's  military  counsel- 
lor, had  encouraged  them  to  make  a  trial  of  the  same  system  among  the 
young  soldiers  in  the  barracks  at  Dolma  Baktche;  that  they  had  al- 
ready fitted  up  a  school  room,  under  direction  of  the  teacher  at  Arnaoot 
Koy  ;  and  that  they  now  wanted  assistance  in  preparing  cards,  books, 
and  all  the  apparatus  of  a  Lancasterian  school.  The  agent  and  Pany- 
otes,  who  had  been  the  teacher  at  Buyuk  Dereh,  and  who  was  a  good 
scholar,  both  in  Greek  and  Turkish,  were  directed  by  the  mission  to 
comply  with  this  request.  In  about  two  weeks,  the  school  had  been  es- 
tablished, and  Azim  Bey,  who  had  acted  a  leading  part  in  this  business, 
was  promoted  and  transferred  to  the  barracks  at  Scutari,  where  he  was 
preparing  to  open  another  school.  Azim  Bey  repeatedly  visited  the 
missionaries  at  Pera,  who  presented  him  with  an  orrery,  and  a  variety 
of  furniture  greatly  needed  by  his  school.  At  his  request,  Panyotes  was 
sent  over  to  Scutari,  to  assist  in  preparing  lessons  in  Turkish  for  the 
school,  and  while  there,  was  treated  with  a  degree  of  respect  seldom 
shown  to  Greeks.  Meanwhile,  a  learned  Turk  was  translating  from 
the  Arabic,  some  books  published  by  the  Church  Missionary  Society  at 
Malta.     The  geography  was  not  full  enough  in  its  account  of  Turkey. 


1833.]  ARMENIAN   ORDINATION.      MISSION    IN   SYRIA.  279 

Azim  Bey,  learning  that  Mr.  Dwight  was  preparing  a  geography  for 
the  Armenians,  to  be  translated  into  Turkish,  requested  that  the  part  re- 
lating to  Turkey  might  be  prepared  immediately,  that  the  Sultan  might 
see  it  when  he  should  visit  the  schools.  It  was  done  ;  and  as  fast  as 
Mr.  Dwight  could  prepare  it  in  English,  Mr.  Oscanean  translated  it 
into  Armenian,  Mr.  Paspati  into  Greek,  and  Panyotes  into  Turkish. — 
Such  was  the  origin  of  Lancasterian  schools  among  the  Turks.  They 
did  not  belong  to  the  mission,  nor  were  they  under  its  care.  They 
were  not  Christian  schools.  They  were  established  by  the  Turks, — as 
Azim  Bey  said,  by  order  of  the  Sultan, — through  the  indirect  influence 
of  the  mission,  and  with  aid  which  it  afforded. 

Early  in  the  autumn,  the  brethren  were  invited  to  at-  Armenian  ominition. 
tend  the  ordination  of  fifteen  Armenian  priests, — the  first  who  had  been 
ordained  for  several  years.  On  inquiring  why  none  had  been  ordained  of 
late,  Mr.  Goodell  was  informed  that  in  1826,  the  Synod  resolved  to  have 
better  educated  priests,  or  none,  and  had  ordered  that  thenceforth  none 
should  be  ordained,  who  had  not  finished  a  course  of  study  under  Pesh- 
temaljan,  the  Principal  of  the  Armenian  Academy  at  Constantinople. 
These  were  the  first  who  had  been  ordained  since  that  time.  They 
were  comparatively  well  educated  men.  By  the  advice  of  Peshtemaljan 
and  others,  several  useless  and  inconvenient  observances  formerly  at- 
tending their  ordinations  were  omitted,  and  instead  of  the  repetition  of 
certain  forms  of  prayer  for  forty  days,  the  new  priests  were  told  to  spend 
a  considerable  part  of  the  time  in  studying  the  Bible. 

The  spirit  of  this  last  recommendation  was  evidently  making  pro- 
gress among  the  Armenians  at  Constantinople.  Peshtemaljan  encour- 
aged and  assisted  his  pupils  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  Several 
young  men,  not  under  his  instruction,  met  statedly  for  that  purpose ; 
and  a  few,  it  was  hoped,  had  begun  to  feel  the  power  of  divine  truth 
to  purify  the  heart. 

Mr.  Thomson  and  Dr.  Dodge  arrived  at  Beirut  on  the  Miss-.o..  i..  syrm. 
24th  of  February.  In  March,  Mr.  Thomson,  with  two  English  mission- 
aries, left  Beirut,  passed  down  the  coast  to  Jaffa,  visited  Jerusalem,  and 
returned  through  the  interior,  after  an  absence  of  five  weeks.  He  found 
the  country  more  open  to  missionary  operations  than  formerly ;  and 
while  at  Jerusalem,  engaged  lodgings  for  himself  and  his  family,  in- 
tending soon  to  return.  He  was,  however,  detained  by  sickness,  and 
afterwards  by  the  sickness  of  his  wife,  till  the  next  year. — In  April, 
Mr.  Whiting  accompanied  his  wife  on  a  voyage  to  Constantinople  for 
the  recovery  of  her  health,  from  which  they  did  not  return  till  early  the 
next  year. 

Butrus,  (Peter,)  Papal  Bishop  of  Beirut  had  published  Mr.  nird-s  i.ei.er.  to 
an  answer  to  Mr.  King's  farewell  letter.  It  was  thought  '^"""'' 
best  that  Mr.  Bird  should  prepare  a  reply  to  the  bishop.  For  this  pur- 
pose, he  was  furnished  with  the  more  important  Avorks  of  the  ancient 
fathers  ;  and  what  was  still  wanting  in  the  polemical  department,  was 
generously  supplied  by  Mr.  Parnell,  one  of  the  devoted  men  who  es- 


280  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1833. 

tablished  the  English  mission  at  Bagdad,  and  who  also  presented  to 
the  mission  a  lithographic  press,  for  printing  the  Arabic  and  Syriac 
languages.  The  reply  occupied  Mr.  Bird  for  several  months.  In  the 
summer  it  was  completed,  and  sent  to  Malta  to  be  printed  at  the  Church 
Mission  press.  It  was  comprised  in  thirteen  letters  to  the  bishop  of 
Beirut  "  by  certain  Christians  of  that  city." 

Nestorian  Mission.  Thc  Rcv.  Justin  Pcrkius  and  his  wife,  who  sailed  from 

Boston  on  the  21st  of  September,  to  commence  amission  among  the 
Nestorians  of  Persia,  arrived  at  Constantinople  in  December. 
we,icrn  Africa.  At  Icugth,  the  Committcc  was  enabled  to  commence  a 

mission  in  Western  Africa.  The  next  day  after  the  annual  meeting,  the 
Rev.  John  L.  Wilson  received  his  instructions  at  Philadelphia.  He  im- 
mediately made  arrangements  to  embark  for  Cape  Palmas,  in  a  vessel 
about  to  be  despatched  by  the  Maryland  Colonization  Society.  He  had 
nearly  abandoned  the  hope  of  having  an  associate ;  but,  just  in  time, 
Mr.  Stephen  R.  Wyncoop,  a  personal  friend  and  fellow-student,  volun- 
teered to  accompany  him  on  his  voyage  of  exploration.  They  em- 
barked at  Baltimore  on  the  28th  of  November. 

Patagonia  explored.  Sllas  E.  Burrows,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  having  offered  a 
gratuitous  passage,  the  Rev.  William  Arms  and  Rev.  Titus  Coan,  by 
direction  of  the  Committee,  embarked  at  New  York,  August  16,  and 
landed  at  Gregory's  Bay,  in  Eastern  Patagonia,  on  the  14th  of  Novem- 
ber. The  vessel  proceeded  on  her  way.  The  missionaries  were  hospit- 
ably received  by  the  Patagonians,  and  assisted  to  visit  the  interior,  but 
found  it  impossible  to  reach  the  Western  Coast,  (to  which  the  mission 
had  been  originally  destined,)  either  by  water  or  by  crossing  the  Cor- 
dilleras. They  ascertained  that  the  country  is  generally  sterile,  the  in- 
habitants few,  and  the  prospect  of  usefulness  comparatively  small. 
They  returned  to  the  place  where  they  landed,  and  embarked  on  the 
25th  of  January,  1834,  on  board  the  Antarctic,  Capt.  Nash,  of  Westerly, 
R.  I.,  for  the  Falkland  Islands.  After  living  some  time  on  board  the 
Antarctic  and  the  Hancock,  of  Stonington,  Ct.,  Capt.  Allen,  of  the 
Talma,  of  Groton,  Ct,,  gave  them  a  passage  home.  They  arrived  at 
New  London  on  the  14th  of  May.  During  their  absence,  they  found 
no  use  for  the  funds  with  which  the  Committee  had  supplied  them  ;  their 
wants  being  gratuitously  supplied  by  the  natives  while  in  Patagonia, 
and  at  other  times  by  the  owners  and  masters  of  the  several  vessels  on 
board  of  which  they  were  received. 

rheroiiee  Mission.  The  coursc  of  cveuts  had  fixed  the  attention  of  poli- 

reie'asej."  ""  "  "  tlclans,  as  wcll  as  of  the  churches,  intensely  upon  the 
imprisoned  missionaries.  The  doctrine  of  "  nullification,"  that  is,  of  the 
right  of  a  State  to  declare  a  law  of  the  United  States  unconstitutional, 
and  to  prevent  its  execution  within  her  limits,  had  become  predominant 
in  South  Carolina.  A  convention,  called  by  the  legislature  of  that 
State,  had  published  an  ordinance,  "  nulUfying"  the  existing  revenue 
law  of  the  United  States,  forbidding  the  courts  of  the  United  States, 
their  oflScerS;  and  all  other  persons,  to  attempt  to  enforce  that  law  in 


1833.]  RELEASE   OF    BUTLER    AND   WORCESTER.  281 

South  Carolina,  and  declaring  that  if  the  general  government  should 
attempt  to  enforce  it,  South  Carolina  would  withdraw  from  the  Union  ; 
and  the  State  had  drafted  men  and  provided  military  stores  to  sustain 
its  ordinance  by  force.  If  the  missionaries  should  persevere  in  their 
suit,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  should  attempt  to  en- 
force its  decision  in  their  favor,  it  was  feared  that  Georgia  would  join 
the  "  nullifiers,"  and  that  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  where  similar 
unconstitutional  laws  had  been  enacted,  would  follow  the  example ; 
and  then  there  would  be  four  contiguous  States,  leagued  together  to 
resist  the  general  government  by  force.  If  the  President  should  sustain 
the  Court,  all  those  States  would  turn  against  him.  If  he  should  permit 
Georgia  to  triumph  over  the  Court,  the  example  would  strengthen  the 
cause  of  South  Carolina.  Georgia  wished  to  support  the  President 
against  the  "  nullifiers,"  but  dared  not,  while  it  was  so  probable  that 
she  should  soon  find  it  expedient  to  join  them. 

These  embarrassments  had  been  foreseen,  ever  since  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  the  missionaries  could  not  be  frightened,  and  would  not  accept 
a  pardon  ;  and  the  Governor  had  sent  them  word  that  he  intended  to 
release  them  from  confinement  at  some  future  time.  When,  in  Novem- 
ber, they  gave  notice  of  their  intention  to  move  the  Supreme  Court  for 
further  process,  the  Governor  saw  the  necessity  of  a  speedy  extrication 
from  his  difficulties.  But  there  was  only  one  way  of  escape.  The 
missionaries  must  be  persuaded  to  withdraw  their  suit.  He  and  his 
friends  grew  active.  Gen.  Coffee,  Judge  Schley,  Mr.  Cuthbert,  and 
other  leading  politicians,  visited  them  in  the  prison,  and  told  them  that 
they  had  conversed  with  the  Governor,  and  had  his  most  unqualified 
assurance,  that  if  they  would  withdraw  their  suit,  they  should  be  uncon- 
ditionally discharged  immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  The  Hon.  John  Forsyth  called  on  Mr.  Wirt,  to  persuade  him 
to  advise  the  missionaries  to  withdraw  their  suit,  and  assured  him  that 
immediately  on  being  informed  that  no  motion  would  be  made  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  they  w^ould  be  released.  He  gave  this  assurance 
"  unofficially  ;"  yet  he  was  authorized  by  the  Governor  to  give  it. 

The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  had  established  the  right  of  the 
missionaries  to  a  discharge  from  confinement,  and  the  right  of  the 
Cherokees  to  protection  by  the  President  from  the  aggressions  of 
Georgia.  But  it  had  become  certain  that,  even  if  the  President  should 
interfere,  agreeably  to  the  decision  of  the  Court,  to  release  the  mission- 
aries, which  was  doubtful, — he  would  not  execute  the  principles  of  that 
decision  by  protecting  the  Cherokees.  The  law  under  which  the  mis- 
sionaries were  imprisoned,  had  been  repealed ;  and  if  released,  they 
could  now  return  to  their  stations  and  resume  the-r  labors.  In  this  state 
of  things,  they  believed  that  by  withdrawing  their  suit,  they  should 
gain  all  that  they  could  expect  to  gain  by  prosecuting  it,  and  in  a 
shorter  time ;  and  should  save  the  country  from  whatever  danger  there 
might  be  of  a  civil  war  with  the  "  nullifiers."  They  immediately  wrote 
to  the  Prudential  Committee,  stating  their  views  and  asking  advice  j — 

36 


282  HISTORY  OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1833. 

for  on  subjects  relating  to  their  imprisonment,  the  Committee  never  gave 
them  instructions,  but  only  advised  them  as  friends.  The  question  was 
very  fully  discussed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  the  25th  of 
December,  1832.  The  prevailing  opinion  was,  that  it  was  expedient 
for  the  missionaries  to  withdraw  their  suit,  and  a  letter  was  immediately 
written  by  Dr.  Wisner,  communicating  that  opinion.*  This  letter  w'as 
received  on  the  7th  of  January,  1833.  The  next  day  they  wrote  to 
their  counsel,  instructing  them  to  make  no  motion  in  their  behalf  before 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  to  the  Governor  and  Attorney  General  of 
Georgia,  informing  them  what  instructions  they  had  given  their  counsel. 
In  their  letter  to  the  Governor  they  added  : — "  We  beg  leave  respect- 
fully to  state  to  your  Excellency,  that  we  have  not  been  led  to  the 
adoption  of  this  measure  by  any  change  of  views  with  regard  to  the 
principles  on  which  we  have  acted ;  or  by  any  doubt  of  the  justice  of 
our  cause,  or  of  our  perfect  right  to  a  legal  discharge,  in  accordance 
with  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  our  favor  already  given  ;  but 
by  the  apprehension  that  the  further  prosecution  of  the  controversy, 
under  existing  circumstances,  might  be  attended  with  consequences  inju- 
rious to  our  beloved  country,"  This  the  Governor  thought  disrespectful 
to  the  authorities  of  the  State,  and  wished  them  to  write  again,  disclaim- 
ing any  disrespectful  intention.  They  accordingly  wrote  the  next  day : — 
"  We  are  sorry  to  be  informed  that  some  expressions  in  our  communi- 
cation of  yesterday  were  regarded  by  your  Excellency  as  an  indignity 
offered  to  the  State  or  its  authorities.  Nothing  could  be  further  from 
our  design.  In  the  course  we  have  now  taken,  it  has  been  our  inten- 
tion simply  to  forbear  the  prosecution  of  our  case,  and  leave  the  con- 
tinuance of  our  confinement  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  State."  This 
the  Governor  pronounced  satisfactory;  but  a  newspaper  article, written 
by  some  political  opponent,  compelled  him  to  wait  a  few  days  longer, 
to  show  that  he  was  not  "  driven."  At  length,  on  the  14th,  Col.  Mills 
told  them  he  had  received  orders  to  discharge  them  from  confinement, 
and  took  them  from  prison  to  his  own  parlor.  The  Governor  sent  them 
no  written  discharge,  but  issued  his  proclamation,  stating  that  they  had 
appealed  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  State,  and  had  been  set  at  liberty. 
With  a  horse  and  wagon  furnished  by  Col.  Mills  at  his  own  expense, 
they  returned  to  their  homes  and  their  labors. 

*  A  letter  written  on  the  29th  of  December,  1832,  and  received  early  in  Jan- 
uary, 1833,  offers,  on  "informal  authority,  in  belialf  of  the  government  of 
Georgia,"  that  if  the  Committee  will  station  the  missionaries  anywhere  be- 
yond the  limits  of  Georgia,  they  shall  be  immediately  discharged  "  in  a  man- 
ner which  shall  not  attach  to  them  the  reproach  of  pardoned  crimnals  ;"  and 
"  in  behalf  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  that  the  relief  which  the 
consent  of  the  Prudential  Committee  to  the  foregoing  proposition  will  give  to 
the  constituted  authorities  of  Georgia,  by  enabling  her  in  the  most  efficient 
manner  to  come  to  the  support  of  the  government  and  laws  of  the  United 
Slates,  will  be  gratefully  acknowledged,  and  that  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  will  possess  the  confidence,  and  will  largely  partake  of  the 
appropriations  of  the  general  government  for  the  melioration  of  the  condition 
of  the  Indians." 


1833.]  REMOVAL    OF    THE    CHOC  TAWS    COMPLETED,  283 

Of  those  labors  and  their  results,  there  is  little  to  record,  cheroi «  Pre.chcfj. 
The  members  of  the  churches  generally  withstood  the  flood  of  temp- 
tations which  was  poured  around  them,  and  a  few  were  added  to  their 
numbers.  The  schools  were  much  as  last  year.  On  the  20th  of  July, 
John  Huss,  who  could  speak  only  his  own  language,  was  ordained  as 
an  evangelist  at  Creek  Path ;  and  about  the  1st  of  October,  Stephen 
Foreman,  a  Cherokee,  who  had  studied  with  Mr.  Worcester,  at  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  at  Princeton,  was  licensed  as  a 
preacher  by  the  Union  Presbytery.  Both  engaged  in  preaching  to  their 
countrymen  under  the  patronage  of  the  Board. 

Among  the  Chickasaws,  the  evils  which  oppressed  them  chickasaws. 

last  year,  continued  to  produce  the  same  disastrous  results.  The  piety  of 
the  church  seemed  to  give  way  before  temptation,  and  early  in  the  winter, 
seven  were  removed  from  its  fellowship  by  excommunication.  After 
some  time,  the  very  greatness  of  temptation  alarmed  the  pious.  They 
became  more  prayerful  and  exemplary.  Many  were  awakened,  and 
some  gave  evidence  of  conversion. — But  the  mission  was  drawing 
towards  a  close.  The  situations  at  Martyn  and  Caney  Creek  were 
given  up.  Only  a  few  children  were  kept  at  school  in  Tipton  county, 
Tennessee,  and  at  Tokshish,  supported  by  the  avails  of  the  farms  and 
by  the  Chickasaw  annuity. 

In  the  old  Choctaw  country,  but  two  missionaries,  with  ci,..etaws.  Remov.i 
their  families  remained ;  Mr.  Kingsbury  at  Mayhew,  and  """p"""''- 
Mr.  Byington  at  Yoknokchaya.  No  school  was  taught,  for  the  chil- 
dren were  gone.  About  40  members  of  the  church  at  Mayhew,  linger- 
ed around  their  spiritual  birth  place,  and  listened  attentively  when  the 
gospel  was  preached.  Mr.  Kingsbury  was  principally  employed  in  dis- 
posing of  the  property  and  closing  up  the  extensive  secular  concerns  of 
the  mission;  and  Mr.  Byington,  in  preparing  a  Choctaw  dictionary  and 
grammar.  As  the  new  missions  among  the  Choctaws  were  to  be  con- 
ducted in  a  less  expensive  style,  and  fewer  laborers  would  be  needed, 
Messrs.  Cushman,  Smith,  Howes,  Bardwell,  Gage  and  Town,  with  their 
wives,  were,  at  their  own  request,  released  from  the  service  of  the  Board. 
Most  of  them  had  expended  ten  or  twelve  of  the  best  years  of  their  lives 
in  missionary  labors  and  sufferings,  with  no  compensation  but  a  bare 
subsistence  for  the  time ;  and  such  of  them  as  had  property,  had  given 
it  to  the  Board.  Now,  when  they  were  about  to  be  left  without  employ- 
ment, in  the  decline  of  life  and  with  impaired  health,  the  Board  was 
not  authorized  to  give,  nor  were  they  willing  to  receive,  such  compen- 
sation for  past  services,  as  their  labors  might  have  commanded  in  some 
"worldly  pursuit ;  but  from  the  household,  agricultural  and  other  movable 
properly  at  the  several  stations,  which  could  no  longer  be  used  for  mis- 
sionary purposes  and  which  was  least  saleable,  they  were  allowed  to 
take  such  articles  as  would  enable  them  to  commence  frugal  arrange- 
ments for  their  future  support. 

Early  in  the  autumn,  the  last  party  of  the  Choctaws  departed  for 
their  new  country  at  the  West.     The  whole  number  removed  was  about 


284  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1833, 

15,000.  Many  remained  in  the  southern  part  of  their  "old  country,  and 
a  few  in  other  parts;  but  the  nation  was  gone,  and  they  were  mere  in- 
dividual Indians  in  a  community  of  white  men. — In  October,  Mr.  Kings- 
bury left  Mayhew,  on  a  visit  to  all  the  tribes  among  whom  the  Board 
had  missions  beyond  the  Mississippi,  to  ascertain  their  condition,  and  to 
comfort,  advise  and  encourage  his  brethren.  He  was  gone  till  March 
of  the  next  year. 

The  Choctaws  in  their  new  country  were  busy  with  cares  and  labors 
incident  to  removal  and  a  new  settlement.  But  gradually  new  churches 
were  formed,  of  those  who  had  been  members  before  the  removal,  and 
a  few  others  were  added  to  them.  Six  or  eight  schools  were  either 
opened  or  ready  to  open,  under  native  teachers,  appointed  and  superin- 
tended by  the  missionaries  ;  when,  in  June,  every  thing  was  suspended 
but  the  care  of  the  sick.  Unusual  inundations,  from  the  rise  of  the  Ar- 
kansas and  Red  river,  left  extensive  tracts  of  level  country  filled  with 
stagnant  water  and  decaying  vegetable  matter,  exposed  to  the  burning 
heat  of  a  summer  sun.  Putrefaction  produced  fevers.  Nearly  every 
member  of  the  mission  families  was  visited  with  sickness.  Of  the  Choc- 
taws, it  was  believed  that  not  more  than  one  in  fifteen  escaped,  and  as 
many  as  one  in  fifteen  died.  Out  of  70  families  in  one  neighborhood, 
70  persons  died.  In  many  of  the  settlements  on  the  rivers,  scarcely  a 
young  child  survived. 

At  Dwight,  Mrs.  Finney  was  released  from  her  earthly  cares  about 
the  middle  of  January.     Other  members  of  the  family  suffered  much 
from  sickness  about  the  same  time.     Mr.  Matthias   Joslyn,  formerly 
teacher  at  Mayhew,  died  at  Dwight  in  December. 
Western  MisMons.  Thc  rcliglous  awakeulug  continued  through  this  year 

Revival.  ^]gQ^  -^^^  ^,^g  evidently  on  the  decline.     Of  this,  Mr.  Wash- 

burn mentioned  a  conclusive  proof,  in  a  letter  written  in  April.  "  Mea- 
sures," he  said,  "  calculated  to  produce  strong  excitement,  such  as  pro- 
tracted meetings,  '  anxious  seats,'  &c.,  cause  very  great  interest  yet ; 
but  small  neighborhood  meetings,  family  visits,  and  the  imparting  of 
religious  instruction  in  a  serious,  noiseless  and  unostentatious  way,  are 
not  so  highly  regarded.  This  is  lamentable."  Still,  the  w^ork  continu- 
ed, and  in  December  it  received  a  new  impulse,  in  a  part  of  the  nation 
before  but  slightly  affected  by  it.  At  the  close  of  the  year,  the  church 
had  106  members,  more  than  60  of  whom  were  among  the  fruits  of  this 
awakening,  which  had  continued  for  three  years. 

The  schools,  generally,  were  in  a  good  condition.  In  May,  the 
chiefs  resolved  to  appropriate  half  of  their  national  school  fund,  or  about 
j|750  annually,  to  support  the  school  at  Fairfield,  under  Dr.  Palmer. 
They  appointed  a  committee  to  receive  and  dismiss  pupils,  and  a  Cher- 
okee family  to  keep  the  boarding  house.  Their  appropriation  was  ex- 
pected to  support  about  30  scholars. 

Among  the  Creeks  and  Osages,  scarce  any  progress  was  made,  ex- 
cept in  the  preparation  of  school  books  in  their  native  languages.  The 
Osages  were  now  engaged  in  war,  and  their  attention  could  not  be 


1833.] 


INDIAN   MISSIONS. 


285 


drawn  either  to  learning  or  religion.  The  school  at  Union,  being  sit- 
uated on  land  now  belonging  to  the  Cherokees,  was  nearly  deserted  by 
Osage  children,  and  was  discontinued  in  January. 

The  Ojibwa  language  was  now  reduced  to  writing.  ojibwa  book.. 
The  spelling  and  reading  book,  containing  select  portions  of  Scripture 
and  a  few  hymns,  was  completed,  and  500  copies  printed.  Dr.  James, 
too,  completed  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  had  it  print- 
ed under  his  own  superintendence.  Some  of  the  children  were  much 
interested  in  learning  to  read  their  own  language.  Little  could  yet  be 
done  in  imparting  religious  instruction,  and  the  migratory  habits  of  the 
Indians  impeded  all  the  operations  of  the  mission.  The  mission  church 
was  organized  in  August.  In  October,  Mr.  Boutwell  commenced  a 
new  station  at  Leech  Lake. 


OJIBWA  AND  SIOUX  MISSIONS. 


286  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1833. 

Mackinaw  reduced.  Notwithstandiiig  the  self-devotion,  energy  and  ability 
of  Mr.  Ferry,  it  was  manifest  that  the  expense  of  the  station  at  Mack- 
inaw was  much  too  great  in  proportion  to  its  usefulness.  Mr.  Green, 
by  direction  of  the  Committee,  visited  Mackinaw  this  summer,  and, 
with  Mr.  Ferry's  aid,  arranged  a  plan  for  reducing  it  within  very 
moderate  limits. 

Mauniee  rednced.  Thc  Maumce  missiou  was  also  reduced,  as  the  Indians 

had  sold  their  land  in  the  vicinity,  and  were  gradually  scattering. 
Only  Mr.  Van  Tassel,  with  his  wife,  and  Mr.  Culver,  the  teacher,  re- 
mained. The  school  contained  31  scholars,  all  boarded  and  some  of 
them  clothed  at  the  expense  of  the  mission.  During  the  winter  and 
spring,  there  was  a  season  of  special  attention  to  religion  in  the  school 
and  neighboring  white  settlements,  and  15  or  20  persons  gave  evidence 
of  conversion,  most  of  whom  soon  united  with  the  church. 
saudwich  Islands  Thc  young  king,   about  the  beginning  of  the   year. 

Regency  ended.  ^.jghed  to  purchasc  a  brig,  which  was  offered  for  $12,000. 
Kinau,  the  regent,  after  consulting  other  chiefs,  refused  to  comply, 
thinking  that  the  debts  of  the  nation  should  be  paid  before  incurring 
any  such  expense.  The  purchase  was  given  up,  but  the  king  was  dis- 
affected. He  avoided  the  society  of  the  more  influential  chiefs,  and 
associated  with  young  and  unprincipled  men.  Breaking  over  the  laws 
to  which  he  had  formerly  given  his  assent,  he  bought  ardent  spirits  and 
wine,  and  drank  with  his  companions,  though  seldom  to  intoxication. 
He  enticed  others  into  the  same  practices,  and  is  said  even  to  have  in- 
flicted punishment  on  some  who  would  not  comply.  He  revived  the 
hulahula,  or  national  dance,  and,  it  was  understood,  intended  to  re- 
vive other  practices  which  had  been  common  in  the  days  of  heathenism. 
Hoapili,  who  was  a  near  relation,  hearing  of  these  things,  hastened  to 
Honolulu,  hoping  to  dissuade  the  king  from  such  evil  courses,  and  res- 
cue him  from  the  influence  of  evil  counsellors,  and  intending,  if  practi- 
cable, to  persuade  him  to  remove  to  Lahaina,  where  there  were  fewer 
temptations.  On  his  arrival,  the  king  assembled  the  chiefs  and  people, 
declared  the  regency  at  an  end,  and  took  into  his  own  hands  the  power 
of  making  laws,  and  of  hfe  and  death.  He  then  published  laws  pro- 
hibiting only  murder,  adultery  and  theft ;  from  which  it  was  inferred 
that  the  other  laws  which  had  been  enacted  for  the  promotion  of  good 
morals  were  no  longer  in  force.  He  had  expressed  his  determination 
to  remove  Kinau  wholly  from  public  employment,  and  appoint  Liliha 
as  his  agent  for  the  transaction  of  business, — as  was  the  desire  of  the 
dissolute;  but  when  about  to  pronounce  the  name,  he  hesitated,  and 
named  Kinau.  When  his  companions  asked  him  why  he  had  not  done 
as  he  intended,  he  replied, — "  Very  strong  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 
He  was  not  stout  enough  in  wickedness,  to  carry  through  his  opposition 
to  the  influence  of  the  good  and  the  demands  of  his  conscience.  He 
always  treated  the  missionaries  with  kindness  and  respect,  and  was  fre- 
quently present  at  public  worship.  Hoapili  remained  for  a  long  time 
at  Honolulu,  endeavoring  to  exert  a  beneficial  influence.     The  princess, 


1833,]  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.      DECLENSION   OF   MORALS.  287 

too,  who  was  naturally  sickly  and  volatile,  and  whose  apparent  spirit- 
uality had  considerably  declined,  was  alarmed  by  the  dangers  which 
beset  her  brother.  She  w^as  faithful,  afFectionate  and  incessant  in  her 
endeavors  to  reclaim  him.  She  first  remonstrated  with  him  in  private; 
and  finally,  even  in  public,  hung  upon  his  arm  and  besought  him  with 
tears  to  listen  to  his  true  friends,  the  chiefs  whom  age,  experience  and 
moral  principle  made  worthy  of  his  confidence.  These  efforts  were  but 
very  partially  successful.  His  course  was,  in  the  main,  unaltered.  It 
was  soon  understood,  throughout  the  Islands,  that  the  supreme  authority 
did  not  demand  good  morals  and  encourage  piety  as  formerly.  With 
multitudes  this  fact  was  decisive.  "The  thought  of  the  chief"  was 
their  name  for  law  ;  and  when  the  king,  the  supreme  chief,  thought 
proper  to  change  his  course,  they  at  once,  so  far  as  in  their  power,  fol- 
lowed his  example.  Great  numbers  forsook  the  schools.  Many  of  the 
teachers  ceased  to  teach.  The  congregations  on  the  Sabbath  were 
reduced  at  least  one  half;  and  scarce  anywhere  was  there  much  appear- 
ance of  serious  inquiry  among  the  unconverted.  At  Honolulu,  the  grog 
shops  were  opened,  and  any  person  could  procure  a  license  for  a  few 
dollars.  Distilleries,  too,  were  again  put  in  operation  in  various  parts 
of  the  Islands.  Other  immoralities  revived  ;  and  in  some  places, — es- 
pecially in  the  district  of  Hilo,  on  Hawaii, — idolatrous  worship  was 
again  performed. 

These  results  were  expected  by  all  who  understood  the  history  of 
the  mission.  Religion  had  been  promoted  by  the  influence  of  the  chiefs, 
whose  will  was  law.  There  had,  unavoidably,  from  the  state  of  soci- 
ety there,  grown  up  a  virtual  union  of  church  and  state.  The  chiefs 
had  decided  in  favor  of  the  gospel,  and  nothing  remained  for  the  people, 
but  to  learn  it,  and  to  act  the  Christian  as  well  as  they  could.  Hence, 
multitudes  became  Christians  in  form,  never  suspecting  that  any  thing 
else  could  be  required  of  them.  But  the  gospel,  faithfully  preached, 
can  hardly  fail  to  awaken  thought.  Nothing  does  so  much  to  give  a 
man  strength,  activity  and  independence  of  mind,  as  a  faithful  exam- 
ination of  his  own  heart  and  life,  and  a  successful  contest  with  his  own 
sinful  propensities.  So  far  as  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  at  the  Islands 
had  been  followed  by  real  conversions,  or  even  by  clear  convictions  of 
sin,  it  had  taught  people  to  think  for  themselves,  to  have  opinions  of 
their  own,  and  made  them  feel  that  they  ought  to  act  from  their  own 
convictions  of  truth,  duty  and  propriety.  Events  were  now  about  to 
show  how  far  this  had  been  accomplished.  The  king  had  separated 
the  state  from  the  church  ;  and  the  church  must  now  stand  by  strength 
derived  from  its  invisible  head. 

The  result  was  as  favorable  as  could  have  been  expected.  The  ad- 
ditions to  the  church  this  year  were  64.  The  whole  number  of  native 
members,  in  July,  was  670.  Even  as  late  as  July  of  the  next  year,  only 
seven  had  been  excommunicated,  from  the  commencement  of  the  mis- 
sion, and  27  were  temporarily  suspended  from  church  fellowship.  The 
higher  chiefs  generally  kept  on  their  Christian  course.  The  means  of 
intoxication  were  nearly  excluded  from  all  the  Islands  except  Oahu. 


288  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  BOARD.  [1833. 

Kuakini,  who  had  returned  to  his  former  home,  visited  every  part  of 
Hawaii,  to  repress  disorders,  punish  crime  and  promote  good  morals. 
Strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  resuscitate  the  schools,  and  with  moder- 
ate success.  The  High  School  at  Lahaina,  though  yet  struggling  into 
existence,  made  itself  felt  for  good.  Many  of  its  pupils  had  been  teach- 
ers ;  any  now  they  went  once  a  w^eek  to  their  homes,  and  called  together 
their  former  pupils,  and  taught  them  something  of  what  they  themselves 
had  learned.  At  nearly  every  station,  some  of  the  missionaries  or  their 
wives  engaged  in  teaching,  and  considerable  numbers  were  thus  put 
upon  a  more  thorough  and  extensive  course  of  instruction.  Efforts  for 
the  education  of  children  were  increased.  They  had  not  fallen  off  from 
their  attendance,  like  the  adults.  Though  the  progress  of  depopulation 
was  not  stayed,  but  only  diminished  ;  though  it  was  still  thought  that, 
from  the  former  prevalence  of  infanticide  and  other  crimes,  three  fourths 
of  the  women  were  childless,  yet  the  number  of  children  was  evidently 
increasing,  and  there  was  hope  that  they  might  be  formed  into  a  better 
generation  than  their  parents  had  been.  And  finally,  protracted  meet- 
ings were  held  at  several  stations ;  and  that  at  Hilo,  in  December,  was 
followed  by  several  instances  of  conversion  and  admission  to  the  church. 
A  Seamen's  ciiariain.  Bcttcr  pi'ovision  was  made  at  the  Islands  for  the  good 
of  seamen.  The  Rev.  John  Diell,  who  sailed  from  New  London  in  No- 
vember, 1832,  as  seamen's  chaplain,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Ameri- 
can Seamen's  Friend  Society,  arrived  at  the  Islands  this  spring.  He 
was  cordially  welcomed  by  the  mission,  at  its  general  meeting  in  June  ; 
and  on  the  28th  of  November,  the  first  chapel  built  by  that  Society  in  for- 
eign lands  w^as  opened  for  public  worship,  at  Honolulu.  Attached  to  it 
was  a  Reading  Room  for  the  use  of  officers  and  seamen.  The  mission 
also  voted  to  open  similar  rooms  at  Lahaina,  where  there  were,  on  an 
average,  about  100  seamen  in  port  through  the  year. 
Mis,ir.n  to  ihe  Wash-  Thc  instructlous  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  to  take  no 
ingion  Islands.  fyrthcr  stcps  lu  rclatiou  to  the  Washington  Islands,  did  not 
arrive  in  season  ;  and  at  the  general  meeting  at  Lahaina  in  June,  Messrs. 
Alexander,  Armstrong  and  Parker  were  deputed  to  commence  the  mis- 
sion. These  brethren,  with  their  families,  sailed  from  Honolulu  on  the 
2d  of  July,  and  after  touching  at  Tahiti,  came  to  anchor  in  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  in  the  Island  of  Nuuhiva,  on  the  10th  of  August.  They  found 
the  natives  few  in  number,  without  any  general  government,  divided  into 
small  settlements,  separated  by  mountains  difficult  and  dangerous  to  pass. 
The  tribes  were  sunk  to  the  lowest  degradation,  and  perpetually  at  war. 
There  was  no  place  where  a  station  could  be  formed,  with  convenient 
access  to  more  than  1000  people.  The  brethren  were  convinced  that 
they  could  do  much  more  good,  at  much  less  expense,  in  some  yet  un- 
occupied part  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  ;  and  the  arrival  of  the  Benja- 
min Rush  affording  an  opportunity,  they  left  Nuuhiva  on  the  16th  of 
April,  and  arrived  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  on  the  13th  of  May,  1834. 
The  Prudential  Committee  approved  of  their  decision,  and  commended 
the  courage,  enterprise  and  self-denying  zeal  with  which  they  had  made 
the  attempt, 


1834.]  CHILDREN   OF   MISSIONARIES.  289 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

1834.— Meeting  at  Utica.— Children  of  missionaries.— Mahrattas.— Return  of 
Mr.  Graves.— Tours  in  the  Deccan.— Tamul  Missions.— Press  at  Ceylon. — 
New  Stations.— Death  of  Mr.  Woodward.— Mission  at  Madura.— China.— 
Persecution.— Converts.— S.  E.  Asia.— Mission  to  Siam  ;  to  Singapore.— 
Death  of  Munson  and  Lyman.— Constantinople.— Awakening  among  the 
Armenians. — New  Missions.— Broosa. — Trebizond.— Nestorians. — Moham- 
medans of  Persia.-Scio.— Cyprus.— Western  Africa.— Southeastern  Afri- 
ca.—Indian  Missions. — Missionaries  expelled  from  Hawcis  and  New  Echota. 
— Itinerant  Schoolmasters. — Chickasaw  mission  closed. — Conversions  at 
Dwight.— Several  missions  reduced.— New  Indian  Missions. — Oregon. — 
Pawnees. — Sioux. — Abernaquis.— Sandwich  Islands.— Gradual  improve- 
ment.— First  newspapers. — Reinforcement. 

The  twenty-fifth  annual  meetincr  was  held  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  October 
8,9  and  10.  There  were  present,  28  corporate  and  91  honorary  mem- 
bers ;  in  all,  119.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Woods  and  the  Hon.  Mr.  Reed  de- 
clined re-election  as  members  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  as  they  could 
not  attenii  its  meetings  with  desirable  regularity.  John  Tappan,  Esq. 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Committee,  and  i3aniel  Noyes,  Esq.  was 
chosen  auditor  in  his  place.  The  receipts  had  been  about  $6500  great- 
er than  last  year  ;  but  the  expenditures  had  been  still  greater,  and  a 
small  debt  had  been  contracted.  Including  $28,666,39  appropriated  to 
its  use  by  other  societies,  of  which  $18,000  were  irom  the  American 
Bible  Society,  and  $9500  from  the  American  Tract  Society,  the  amount 
expended  by  the  Board  was  $188,446. 

At  this  meeting,  the  question  concerning  the  return  of  ci.n.iren  of  Mu.ion- 
the  children  of  missionaries  to  this  country  for  their  educa- 
tion, was  finally  settled.  The  missionaries  of  the  Board  have  generally 
been  found  prepared  to  submit,  without  a  murmur,  to  the  sacrifices  which 
theiremployment  has  called  them  to  make  in  their  own  persons  ;  but  to  see 
their  children  suffer  the  disadvantages  of  an  education  in  a  heathen  land, 
and  sink  below  the  rank  they  might  have  occuiiied  in  a  Christian  land, — 
this  is  a  trial  which  they  did  not  understand,  when,  young  and  unmarried, 
they  consecrated  themselves  to  the  work,  and  which  it  has  proved  hard 
to  bear,  especially  in  India,  where  the  climate  is  unfavorable  to  health, 
where  the  difficulties  of  a  Christian  education  are  greatest,  and  where, 
generally,  suitable  employments  and  connections  in  life  are  not  to  be 
found  for  the  chilth'en  of  foreigners.  The  subject  was  first  brought  up 
by  a  letter  from  the  missionaries  in  Ceylon,  dated  October,  1822  ;  m 
which  they  proposed  that  their  children  should  be  sent  to  the  United 
States  at  the  age  of  eight,  twelve  or  fifteen,  and  educated  together  in  a 
seminary  established  for  that  purpose.  To  this  the  Committee  objected  ; 
and  after  some  further  correspondence,  the  Board  resolved,  at  its  mcet- 

37 


290  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1834. 

ing  in  1825,  that  it  could  adopt  no  general  system  for  the  removal  of 
the  children  of  missionaries  to  this  country,  but  would  not  object  to  their 
removal  at  the  expense  of  their  friends.  This  was  not  satisfactory.  Cor- 
respondence continued,  with  this  and  other  missions.  The  missionaries 
in  the  Mediterranean  thought  children,  generally,  should  not  be  sent 
home,  but  that  there  should  be  an  allowance  for  their  support  and  edu- 
cation, wherever  they  might  be.  The  brethren  in  Ceylon  proposed  a 
plan,  by  which  missionaries  might  send  home  their  children,  and  draw  at 
once  on  the  Board,  with  suitable  deduction  for  payment  in  advance,  for 
the  allowances  which  must  otherwise  be  made  to  the  children  while  liv- 
ing with  their  parents.  A  plan  somewhat  on  this  principle  was  adopted, 
and  many  were  sent  home.  Meanwhile,  an  excitement  on  this  subject 
was  rising  throughout  the  country.  Some  maintained,  that  any  arrange- 
ment by  which  parents  were  not  to  bring  up  their  own  children,  must 
be  at  war  with  the  designs  of  Providence,  false  in  principle,  and  perni- 
cious in  its  results;  some  Christian  mothers  contended  that  women  had 
no  right  to  marry,  with  the  expectation  of  casting  their  children  upon 
others  for  maternal  care  ;  and  the  question  began  to  be  agitated  whether 
missionaries  ought  not  to  go  out  unmarried.  But  the  strong  current  of 
feeling  was  in  the  opposite  direction.  Funds  to  found  a  seminary  for 
the  children  were  offered.  Multitudes  flocked  to  this  meeting  at  Utica, 
resolved  that  some  liberal  public  provision  should  be  made.  A  thorough 
discussion  produced  a  change  of  opinions,  such  as  is  seldom  witnessed  on 
such  occasions.  It  was  seen  that  homes  in  pious  families,  commonly  of 
relatives,  were  better  for  the  children  than  a  great  boarding  establish- 
ment ;  and  that,  with  an  appropriation,  if  needed,  not  exceeding  fifty 
dollars  a  year  for  a  boy  and  forty  for  a  girl  till  eighteen  years  of  age,  to 
be  charged  among  the  expenses  of  the  mission  to  which  the  parents  be- 
long, such  homes  could  always  be  obtained.  This  plan  was  adopted 
with  unexpected  unanimity,  and  the  subject  has  ever  since  been  at 
rest. 

When  Bombay  was  the  only  station  under  the  care  of  the  Board,  its 
annual  history  could  be  related  minutely;  but  now  the  number  of 
missions  had  increased  to  36,  and  of  stations  to  65,  and  a  few  words  for 
each  must  suffice;  and  this  is  the  less  to  be  regretted,  as  the  attentive 
reader  is  already  familiar  with  the  general  course  of  labors  and  events 
at  the  more  important  stations. 

Mahr>ua  Mu.ion.  Mr.  Gravcs,  finding  the  restoration  of  his  health  hopeless, 

chose  to  return  to  India,  and  spend  the  short  remnant  of  his  life  in  those 
labors  to  which  his  life  had  been  consecrated.  He  sailed  from  Boston,  May 
21,  accompanied  by  his  wife,theRev.  SendolB.Munger,  Mr.  George  W. 
Hubbard  and  Mr.  Amos  Abbott  and  their  wives.  Miss  Orpah  Graves  and 
Miss  A.  H.  Kimball.  After  arriving  at  Bombay  in  September,  Mr.  Graves, 
by  advice  of  physicians,  repaired  to  the  Mahaburlishwur  Hills,  to  be  em- 
ployed principally  in  translating.  In  October,  Miss  Kimball  was  married 
to  Mr.  Stone.  Mrs.  Ramsey  died  suddenly  of  the  cholera  on  the  11th 
of  June.     Mr.  Ramsey's  health  soon  after  entirely  failed,  and  he  re- 


1834.]  CEYLON.      NEW    STATIONS.  291 

turned,  with  his  two  children,  to  the  United  States.  His  published 
"  Missionary  Journal"  gives  probably  the  best  view  anywhere  to  be 
found,  of  itinerant  missionary  labors  in  India.  Itinerating  in  the  Deccan 
was  found  favorable  to  health,  and  carried  farther  than  ever  before. 
From  October  1833  to  July  1834,  Mr.  Read  travelled  about  1100  miles, 
and  preached  in  about  125  towns  and  villages,  in  about  half  of  which, 
he  supposed,  the  gospel  had  never  before  been  heard.  At  the  Maha- 
burlishwur  Hills,  he  found  six  Chinese  convicts  who  requested  baptism. 
They  had  no  book  among  them  but  a  tract,  given  to  one  of  them  by  Dr. 
Morrison  at  Canton.  Chinese  tracts  were  procured  for  them  at  Bombay, 
and  instruction  was  given  adapted  to  their  wants.  At  Jalna,  120  miles 
northeast  from  Ahmednuggur,  Mr.  Allen  found  a  society  of  about  50 
native  Christians,  some  of  them  members  of  churches  in  Southern  India, 
and  others  converted  from  Popery  and  Hindooism  by  their  influence. 
They  never  had  any  pastor.  He  baptized  four,  and  administered  the 
Lord's  supper  to  fourteen. 

The  Ceylon  printing  establishment,  which  had  two  ceyion.  Nov..  siation,. 
presses,  with  Tamul  and  English  type,  began  its  operations  on  the  31st 
of  January  at  Manepy.  Early  in  the  year,  Dr.  Scudder,  with  four  native 
helpers,  commenced  a  new  station  at  Chavagacherry,  where  the  govern- 
ment gave  him  the  use  of  the  old  Portuguese  church  buildings.  In 
October,  he  had  23  free  schools,  with  1000  pupils.  In  July,  Mr.  Hutch- 
ings  opened  another  station  at  Varany,  still  further  east.  The  whole 
number  of  children  and  youth  under  instruction,  including  124  in  the 
Seminary,  was  5,367.  The  publication  of  a  Christian  Almanac,  in 
Tamul,  with  calculations  by  a  member  of  the  Seminary,  was  commenced. 
But  the  great  event  of  the  year  w^as  the  commencement  of  another  re- 
vival, during  a  protracted  meeting  at  Batticotta,  on  the  12th  of  Novem- 
ber. It  soon  spread  to  nearly  all  the  stations,  and  to  Nellore  and  Jaffna- 
patara  ;  but  its  history  belongs  to  another  year. 

Mr.  Woodward  died  on  the  3d  of  August,  at  Coimbatoor,  near  the 
base  of  the  Neilgherry  Hills,  which  he  had  visited  for  his  health.  The 
Rev.  Alanson  C.  Hail  embarked  at  Boston,  with  his  wife,  to  join  this 
mission,  on  the  4th  of  November. 

Early  in  January,  Mr.  Spaulding  visited  the  neighboring  n,.«.  MiKio,,  at 
continent,  to  select  a  site  for  a  new  mission  among  the  six  ^''"^""'• 
or  eight  millions  of  Tamul  people  there.  He  was  gone  about  two 
months,  and  visited  the  English  missions  at  Palamcottah,  Nagercoil  and 
Tinnevelly.  As  the  site  for  a  new  mission,  he  selected  Madura,  the  an- 
cient residence  of  the  Tamul  kings,  and  the  present  metropolis  of  Tamul 
learning,  and  of  Brahmiuical  influence  in  Southern  India.  Extensive  pa- 
laces, temples,  and  other  public  buildings,  adorned  with  costly  sculpture, 
but  now  in  decay,  attest  its  former  magnificence.  The  population  of 
the  city  is  about  50,000,  and  of  the  ihstrict,  about  1,300,000.  Mr. 
Woodward,  a  little  before  his  death,  obtained  permission  from  the  Ma- 
dras government,  for  American  missionaries  to  reside  in  the  district.  In 
July,  Mr.  Hoisington  and  Mr.  Todd,  with  three  native  assistants,  com- 


292 


HISTORY   OF   THE   AIVIERICAN   BOARD. 


[1834. 


Palace  at  Madura.* 


menced  a  mission  here,  and  soon  established  two  small  schools, — one  for 
each  sex. 

Mission  to  China.  Thc  Venerable  Dr.  Morrison,  of  the  London  Missionary 

Society,  died  on  the  first  of  August.  During  the  same  month,  there  was 
a  collision  between  Lord  Napier,  the  agent  of  the  British  government, 
and  the  Chinese  authorities  at  Canton ;  and  on  the  30th,  Lord  Napier 
published  a  statement  of  facts  in  the  Chinese  language.  Lumediately 
there  was  an  outcry  against  the  "  traitorous  natives"  who  taught  fo- 
reigners the  Chinese  language;  and  on  the  same  day  a  proclamation 
was  issued  against  those  who  "make  the  evil  and  obscene  books  of  the 
outside  barbarians,  and  under  the  false  pretence  of  '  admonishing  the 
age,'  print  and  distribute  them;"  commanding  that  they  should  be  ar- 
rested and  punished,  and  all  their  books  and  printing  apparatus  destroyed. 
Leang  Afa,well  known  as  the  author  of  "Good  Words  to  admonish  the 
Age,"  fled  to  Singapore ;  some  of  his  assistants  were  seized  and  pun- 
ished, and  all  of  them  dispersed ;  a  quantity  of  metallic  type,  procured 
for  the  purpose  of  printing  the  Scriptures  in  Chinese,  were  melted,  and 
valuable  blocks  destroyed,  to  avoid  detection;  and  Mr.  Bridgman's 
school  of  seven  Chinese  boys  was  broken  up.  In  an  account  of  these 
troubles,  Leang  Afa  gave  the  names  of  twelve  Chinese,  besides  him- 
self, who  had  been  baptized,  and  whom  he  regarded  as  truly  pious.  Mr. 
Bridgman  and  John  R.  Morrison,  in  an  account  of  the  same  disturbances, 
gave  the  names  of  fourteen  Chinese  converts. 

*  Rev.  Mr.  Todd  calls  it  a  "  Rest-hpuse." 


1834.] 


MISSIONS   TO   SIAM   AND  SINGAPORE. 


293 


Dr.  Peter  Parker  sailed  from  New-York  in  June  to  join  this  mission. 
He  arrived  at  Canton  on  the  26th  of  October.  After  consultation,  it 
was  thought  best  that  he  should  study  the  language  for  some  time  at 
Singapore,  where  he  arrived  on  the  25lh  of  December. 


Messrs.  Robinson  and  Johnson  arrived  at  Bangkok  from  Minion  to  si.m. 
Singapore  in  July.  Mr.  Jones,  of  the  American  Baptist  mission,  intro- 
duced them  to  the  Prah-Klang,  one  of  the  chief  officers  of  government, 
who  received  them  with  great  apparent  cordiality  and  respect.  As  the 
Chinese  are  immensely  numerous  at  Bangkok,  Mr.  Johnson  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  of  that  language,  while  Mr.  Robinson  directed  his 
attention  to  the  Siamese.  The  little  company  of  converts  left  here  by 
Mr.  Abeql,  had  already  been  formed  into  a  church  by  Mr.  Jones,  and 
were  now  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Dean,  of  the  Baptist  mission.* — Dr. 
Dan  B.  Bradley  embarked  at  Boston  for  Siam,  on  the  2d  of  July. 

A  permanent  mission  was  established  at  Singapore,  in- Mission  a.  sing.pnre. 
tended  as  a  central  point  for  all  the  missions  in  Southeastern  Asia  and 
its  adjacent  Islands.  Singapore  is  a  British  seaport,  and  is  frequented 
by  native  vessels  from  almost  every  port  in  Asia,  from  Bombay  to  the 
eastern  extremity  of  China,  to  the  number  of  more  than  1500  a  year. 
Here  was  a  large  printing  establishment,  containing  fonts  of  Roman, 
Malay,  Arabic,  Javanese,  Siamese  and  Bugis  type,  with  a  foundry  for 
casting  type  in  all  these  languages,  which  had  been  under  the  direction 

*  Mr.  Jones  left  Maulmain  fur  Siam,  September  25,  1832.  If  he  acted 
on  instniclions  received  from  home,  those  instructions  irrnst  hare  been  sent 
out  biil'orc  the  Baptist  Board  was  informed  of  Mr.  Abeel's  laliors  at  Bangkok. 
Tliat  Board,  it  is  beheved,  did  not  intend  to  interfere  -with  the  operations  of  an 
older  mission. 


294  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1834. 

of  the  London  Missionary  Society.  It  was  now  for  sale  ;  and  as  that 
Society  declined  purchasing,  Messrs.  Robinson  and  Johnson  made  a  con- 
ditional purchase,  on  advantageous  terms.  The  continued  operation  of 
that  press  seemed  indispensable  to  the  success  of  missionary  labors  in 
that  part  of  the  world.  The  Prudential  Committee  ratified  the  contract, 
and  directed  Mr.  Tracy  to  proceed  from  Canton  to  Singapore,  to  commence 
a  mission  and  take  charge  of  the  establishment.  He  arrived  on  the  24th 
of  July,  a  few  days  after  Messrs.  Robinson  and  Johnson  had  left  for  Ban- 
kok.  During  the  remainder  of  the  year,  he  printed  1000  copies  of  the 
gospel  of  John,  with  extracts  from  Matthew  and  Acts,  and  labored  in 
various  ways  to  promote  religion.  He  was  joined  by  Leang  Afa  in 
November. 

Death  of  Mun.on  and       Thc  cxploring  missioH  came  to  a  tragical  end. — Messrs. 
Lym=i,.         Munson  and  Lyman  remained  at  Batavia  till  the  8th  of 
April,  when  they  embarked  for  Padaiig.     Here  they  spent  a  fortnight, 
and  then  sailed  for  tiie  Battoo  group  of  122  islands.     Among  these  and 
at  the  Pulo  Niyas  they  spent  a  month,  visiting  the  more  important 
places,  and  collecting  much  valuable  information.     Finding  that  their 
lives  would  be  in  danger  from  the  ferocity  of  the  inhabitants,  they  gave 
up  their  intended  visit  to  the  interior  of  Pulo  Nyas,   and  proceeded  to 
Tapanooly,  in  Sumatra,  intending,  if  practicable,  to  visit  the  Battas  of 
the  interior.     Mr.  Bonnett,  the  Post  holder  under  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment, received  them  courteously  and  kindly,  and  assisted  them  in  their 
inquiries.     Mr.  Burton,   an  English  Baptist  missionary,   had   labored 
some  years  among  the  Battas  near  Tapanooly,  commencing  in  1820, 
and  had  penetrated  far  into  the  interior,  but  he  had  some  time  since 
been  removed  by  death,  his  school  was  dispersed,  and  all  traces  of  his 
labors  had  disappeared.     Other  Europeans  had  visited  the  interior,  and 
some  of  them  very  lately,  without  injury.     There  was  a  rumor  of  war 
in  the  interior,  which  might  render  a  visit  dangerous.     The  brethren 
hesitated.     Mr.  Bonnett  instituted  an  inquiry  into  the  origin  and  charac- 
ter of  the  report,  called  up  and  examined  its  author,  and  ascertained 
that  it  could  not  possibly  be  true ;  though,  as  afterwards  appeared,  it  was 
only  a  gross  exaggeration.     He,  however,  considered  the  journey  haz- 
ardous from  the  nature  of  the  country  and  the  ferocity  of  wild  beasts, 
and  endeavored  to  dissuade  them  from  the  attempt.     They  were  not  to 
be  deterred  by  such  dangers;  and  on  the  23d   of  June  they  set  out  on 
foot,  accompanied  by  their  faithful   attendant,  Si  Jan,  from  Batavia,  a 
native  cook,  an  interpreter,  two  police  runners,  and  ten  coolies  to  carry 
their  baggage ;  all  furnished  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Bonnett.     On  the 
second  night,  they  fell  in  with  Rajah  Swasa,  who  had  heard  of  war  in 
the  interior,  and  advised  them  to  wait,  while  he  would  visit  Lake  Tobah, 
the  intended  limit  of  their  journey,  and  write  to  them  from  thence  ;  but 
as  the  rumor  which  he  had  heard  was  evidently  the  same  that  had  been 
pronounced  false  at  Tapanooly,  they  proceeded  on  their  way  the  next 
morning. 

Scaling  dangerous  precipices  and  penetrating  dense  jungles,  they 


1834.]  DEATH   OF   MUNSON   AND   LYMAN.      GREECE.  295 

advanced  ten  or  twelve  miles  a  day,  till  about  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  Saturday,  June  28,  when  they  came  suddenly  upon  a  log  fort, 
occupied  by  men  armed  with  muskets,  spears,  and  other  "weapons. 
Here  was  the  village  of  Sacca.  It  was  now  engaged  in  a  petty  war 
with  a  neighboring  village,  and  all  hearts  were  full  of  suspicion,  fear 
and  rage.  The  interpreter  advanced  to  the  fort  to  explain  their  char- 
acter  and  designs ;  but  before  he  could  address  them,  about  200  armed 
men  rushed  upon  one  flank  and  the  rear  of  the  party.  The  coolies 
threw  down  their  burdens  and  fled.  The  interpreter  disappeared.  The 
brethren  pushed  aside  the  spears  of  the  Battas  with  their  hands,  gave 
up  the  musket  and  pistols  they  had  brought  as  a  defence  against  wild 
beasts,  and  entreated  them  to  wait  for  an  explanation.  Mr.  Lyman 
told  Si  Jan  to  call  the  interpreter.  He  ran  a  short  distance,  but  not 
finding  him,  turned,  heard  the  report  of  a  musket,  and  saw  Mr.  Lyman 
fall.  The  Battas  raised  a  shout,  which  was  answered  from  the  fort. 
They  rushed  upon  Mr.  Munson,  who  was  pierced  with  a  spear  and  fell. 
The  cook  fled,  but  was  pursued  and  cut  down  with  a  cleaver.  Si  Jan 
hid  himself  in  a  thicket,  and  at  length  escaped  to  Tapanooly.  A  re- 
port was  circulated,  that  the  bodies  of  the  missionaries  were  eaten.  It 
may  have  been  so, — for  the  Battas  sometimes  eat  the  bodies  of  enemies 
slain  in  war ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  report  rests  on  the  testimony 
of  no  known  witness,  and  some  of  its  most  horrible  particulars  are  in- 
consistent with  well  attested  facts.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Battas  acted  from  mistaken  apprehensions  concerning  the  character  and 
designs  of  the  strangers,  and  that  if  an  explanation  could  have  been 
had,  no  blood  would  have  been  shed.  A  terrible  vengeance  soon  over- 
took them.  When  it  became  known,  by  reports  from  the  natives  on 
the  coast  and  on  the  road,  that  the  strangers  were  good  men,  and  had 
come  to  do  the  Batta  people  good,  all  the  neighboring  villages  leagued 
together  to  require  blood  lor  blood.  In  an  unsuspected  hour,  they 
came  upon  Sacca,  set  fire  to  their  houses,  slew  many  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  destroyed  their  gardens  and  fields.  Those  who  could  escape  were 
scattered  to  various  parts,  a  thick  jungle  is  growing  up  where  the  village 
stood,  and  even  the  name  of  Sacca  is  heard  no  more.  The  death  of 
these  brethren  produced  a  deep  sensation  throughout  the  Christian 
work!.  Their  widows,  who  were  at  Batavia,  received  every  kind  at- 
tention from  benevolent  and  Christian  friends  in  that  city,  where  liberal 
pecuniary  contributions  were  made  for  their  support.  The  next  year, 
they  returned  to  their  native  land. 

The  Greek  mission  was  extended.     In  June,  Mr.  Riggs  Greece. 

removed  to  Argos,  and  commenced  a  school  for  females.  Near  the 
close  of  the  year,  the  seat  of  government  was  removed  to  Athens,  and 
some  of  the  public  buildings  which  Mr.  King  had  been  allowed  to  oc- 
cupy, were  required  for  its  use.  The  bishop  began  to  preach  against 
Mr.  King  and  his  labors,  and  sentiments  hostile  to  the  mission  were 
spreading  among  the  clergy.  Yet  the  government  appeared  friendly. 
Dr.  Korck,  who,  though  a  German  in  the  employment  of  the  English 


296  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  BOARD.  [1834. 

Church  Missionary  Society,  was  usually  called  an  American,  was  ap- 
pointed Inspector  General  of  Common  Schools.  He  was  supplied  with 
a  large  quantity  of  school  books.  A  law  was  enacted,  requiring  the 
Scriptures  and  the  more  important  school  books  from  the  Malta  press  to 
be  used  in  schools,  and  Mr.  King  had  numerous  orders  for  them,  from 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom. 

Constantinople.  The  schools  lu  thc  Turklsh  barracks  near  Constantino- 

ple increased  to  eight,  and  had  2,000  scholars;  but  the  mission  had 
nothing  to  do  with  them  except  as  neighbors  and  friends.  A  Greek 
monk  from  the  Ionian  Islands  preached  violently  against  the  mission,  its 
books,  and  its  improvements  in  education,  and  even  against  the  Patri- 
arch for  favoring  them.  The  teachers  were  compelled  to  restore  the 
old  church  prayers  and  Psalter  to  their  place,  when  the  plague  broke 
out,  and  the  schools  were  suspended. 

But  the  Armenians  of  this  city  presented  the  most  interesting  field 
of  labor.  From  their  original  mountain  home,  which  stretches  from 
the  southwestern  shore  of  the  Caspian  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates,  commerce  has  led  this  enterprising  people  to  nearly  all 
the  more  wealthy  parts  of  the  Eastern  continent.  The  most  influential 
body  of  them, — about  200,000  in  number, — resides  at  Constantinople, 
where  they  possess  immense  wealth,  and  have  almost  monopolized  the 
business  of  banking.  Their  church  was  early  separated  from  that  of 
Rome,  for  embracing  the  Monophysite  heresy, — the  doctrine  that  Christ 
had  but  one  nature,  compounded  of  divine  and  human.  It  has  embraced 
many  of  the  errors  of  Rome;  but  has  never,  by  any  authoritative  de- 
cree, set  them  up  as  an  infallible  standard.  The  spiritual  head  of  the 
church  is  the  Catholicos,  or  general  bishop,  who  resides  at  Aghtamar,  a 
small  island  in  Lake  Van,  in  ancient  Armenia ;  or  as  some  say,  his  rival, 
who  resides  at  Sis,  among  the  mountains  of  Cilicia.  The  actual  ruler 
of  nearly  the  whole  nation  is  the  Patriarch  at  Constantinople,  who  is 
held  responsible  by  the  Turkish  government,  like  the  head  of  every 
other  sect  in  Turkey,  for  the  good  conduct  of  his  nation,  and  who  may, 
when  he  pleases,  call  for  the  Turkish  sword,  to  enforce  what  he  deems 
good  conduct.  He  is  dependent,  however,  for  his  office,  on  the  general 
Synod,  or  council  of  Primates  ;  that  is,  upon  any  twenty-five  or  less  of 
the  bankers  and  wealthy  men,  who  happen  to  possess  the  greatest 
amount  of  personal  influence.  There  is  also  a  small  fragment  of  the 
nation,  subject  in  like  manner  to  the  Armenian  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem. 
Hohannes  and  sene-  Thcrc  had  bccu  vbtIous  Indicatious  of  a  tendency  to- 
*"'""■  wards  the  revival  of  learning  and  piety  among  the  Armeni- 

ans. The  most  important  were,  the  establishment,  in  1829,  of  the 
Academy  under  Peshtemaljan,  and  the  order  that  no  one  should  be  or- 
dained as  a  priest,  who  had  not  pursued  a  course  of  study  there.  Pesh- 
temaljan was  learned,  conscientious,  mild  and  prudent.  He  said  little 
of  the  errors  of  the  church,  but  encouraged  and  assisted  his  pupils  in 
the  conscientious  study  of  the  Scriptures.  Among  his  earliest  students 
was  Hohannes,  who  from  childhood  had  been  fond  of  books,  and  for 


1834.]  HOHANNES  AND  SENEKERIM.  297 

some  time  had  longed  to  see  his  countrymen  better  furnished  with  the 
means  of  education.     In  1830,  he  began  to  converse  on  religion  with 
his  friend  Senekerim,  the  teacher  of  a  school  in  the  Patriarch's  palace. 
Senekerini  was  at  first  startled,  at  hearing  sentiments  not  taught  in  their 
churches;  but  gradually  his  mind  became  enlightened,  and  they  both 
saw  how  their  nation  needed  to  be  aroused,  and  brought  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  gospel.     How  could  it  be  done  ?     Awakening  tracts  must 
be  published,  and  schools  must  be  established;  but  they  had  no  funds. 
As  they  taught  and  conversed,  their  zeal  increased ;  and  they  closed  one 
of  their  interviews  with  a  formal   consecration  of  themselves,    their 
bodies,  their  ideas,  and  every  thing  pertaining  to  them,  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  declaring  that  thenceforth  they  were  ready  to  execute  his 
will.     One  day,  in  reading  the  New  Testament,  Senekerim  found  the 
words,  "If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth,  as  touching  any  thing  that 
they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  hea- 
ven."    Full  of  joy,  he  informed  Hohannes,  who  rejoiced  with  him  ;  and 
they  both  prayed,  saying,  "  0   God,  we  agree  to  ask,  that  our  nation 
may  awake,  may  know  the  gospel,  and  may  understand  that  it  is  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  alone  which  purgeth  away  sin."     "  And  great," 
says  Senekerim,  "  was  our  hope  in  regard  to  this  thing."     Soon  after 
this,  in  the  spring  of  1833,  they  heard  something  concerning  the  arrival 
and  plans  of  the  American  missionaries.     Hohannes  visited  them,  first 
alone,  and  afterwards  with  his  friend,  "in  order  to  find  out   what  kind 
of  persons  they  were ;"  that  they  "  might  understand  their  views,  and 
especially  might  prove  them  and  their  works."     At  their  third  visit,  "  by 
little  and  little"  they  "  perceived  that  the  great  object  of  their  pursuit 
was  nigh  at  hand."     Hohannes  began  to  study  the  English  language 
under  Mr.  Dwight,  and  both  were  frequent  visitors  of  the  missionaries. 
But  their  secular  duties  embarrassed  their  religious  pursuits ;  and,  in 
July,  they  earnestly  requested  to  be  taken  under  the  entire  direction  of 
the  mission.     They  could  not  be  refused.     As  means  of  support,  Senek- 
erim was  employed  to  open  an  Armenian  school  at  Pera,  and  Hohannes 
to  translate  the  Psalms  from   ancient  into   modern  Armenian.     They 
soon  gained  clearer  views  of  the  nature  of  experimental  religion,  and 
became  intensely   afraid  of  deceiving  themselves  with  respect  to  their 
own  piety ;  but  after  a  season  of  sorrowful  and  painful  searching  of 
heart,  were  brought  into  the  clear  light  of  the  gospel,  and  enabled  to 
trust,  with  a  soul-satisfying  confidence,  in   the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 
They  continued  in  the  service  of  the  mission,  seizing  opportunities  for 
conversing  with  their  friends  on  spiritual  religion,  but  avoiding  carefully 
all  allusion  to  what  was  wrong  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  church.     A 
papal  priest,  alarmed,  it  would  seem,  for  the  purity  of  the  faith  among 
the  Armenians,  whom  his  church  anathematizes  as  heretics,  induced  a 
rich  Armenian  jeweller  to  cite  them  before  Peshtemaljan,  as  teachers  of 
heresy  ;  but  Peshtemaljan  pronounced  and  proved  their  doctrines  cor- 
rect, and  the  jeweller  was  convinced.     Thus  strengthened,  the  young 
brethren  continued  their  labors,  and  their  evangelical  views  continued 

38 


298  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1834. 

slowly  to  gain  new  adherents,  but  almost  exclusively  among  the  clergy 
and  their  sons.  Several  persons,  occupying  important  stations  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  capital,  were  found  to  be  in  some  degree  enlightened, 
and  might,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  fellow-laborers.  Before  the  end  of 
1834,  the  journals  of  the  mission  mention  12  or  15  Armenians,  who  ap- 
peared to  be  either  truly  pious,  or  serious  and  hopeful  inquirers  after  the 
truth. 

A  Hio'h  School  for  Armenians  was  opened  under  the  instruction  of 
Mr.  Paspati,  in  Mr.  Goodell's  house,  on  the  27th  of  October,  with  the 
earnest  approbation  of  Peshtemaljan. 

syri*.  Mr.  Smith  arrived  at  Beirut  in  January,  and  found  that 

the  mission  had  made  much  greater  progress  than  he  expected.  The 
attendance  on  preaching  had  increased.  There  were  four  schools,  two 
of  which  were  taught  by  pious  natives ;  besides  a  Sabbath  school,  and 
a  female  school,  for  which  a  house  this  year  was  erected  by  the  sub- 
scriptions of  foreign  residents.  Mr.  Smith,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Dodge, 
explored  the  country  as  far  as  Damascus,  which  he  recommended  as  a 
missionary  station.  They  continued  their  explorations  as  far  south  as 
the  Jabok,  and  Mr.  Smith  afterwards  visited  the  greater  part  of  Leba- 
non and  Anti-Libanus.  During  the  summer.  Commodore  Patterson 
visited  Beirut  with  the  U.  S.  line  of  battle  ship  Delaware  and  schooner 
Shark,  principally,  as  he  said,  to  do  honor  to  the  mission,  and  to  con- 
vince the  people  that  it  had  powerful  friends ;  which  was  effectually 
done. 

Jerusalem.  Mr.  Thomsou,  with  Mr.  Nicholayson,  of  the  London 

Jews'  Society,  and  their  wives,  removed  to  Jerusalem  in  April.  In 
May,  Mr.  Thomson  went  to  Jaffa,  to  bring  up  his  furniture.  Civil  war 
broke  out,  Jerusalem  was  besieged,  and  earthquake  and  famine  added 
their  horrors.  After  about  two  months,  the  rebels  were  subdued,  and 
he  returned  to  his  family.  His  wife  was  sick  with  an  inflammatory 
fever,  to  which  the  powers  of  life  yielded  on  the  22d  of  July.  He 
returned  to  Beirut,  where  it  was  thought  best  for  him  to  remain. 
fcmyrni.  Through  thc  influence  of  an  old  personal  enemy,  the 

Armenian  bishop  Dionysius  (Carabet)  was  compelled  to  leave  Smyrna 
in  February.  Sarkis,  a  learned  and  pious  Armenian  priest,  came  from 
Constantinople  to  supply  his  place.  The  Rev.  John  B.  Adger  arrived 
from  Boston  and  joined  the  mission  in  October,  expecting  to  labor 
chiefly  for  the  Armenians.  The  labors  of  the  press  were  much  the  same 
as  at  Malta,  except  that  its  publications  were  nearly  all  in  Modern 
Greek. 

New  MiBsions.  Mr.  Schncidcr  removed  his  family  to  Broosa  in  July. 

Broosa.  Broosa  is  situated  about  80  miles  from  Constantinople,  at 

the  base  of  the  Asiatic  Olympus.  It  was  for  130  years  the  capital  of 
the  Turkish  Empire,  and  is  now  called  one  of  its  most  beautiful  cities. 
It  has  about  50,000  inhabitants.  Mr.  Schneider  had  previously  visited 
the  place,  with  Mr.  Goodell,  engaged  a  house,  and  left  Hohannes  to 
make  arrangements  for  a  school.     Notwithstanding  the  opposition 


1834.] 


TKEBIZOND.      THE    NESTORIANS. 


299 


which  some  of  the  clergy  had  excited  during  his  absence,  the  school 
was  commenced  with  70  pupils ;  and  in  December  another  was  opened 
at  Demir  Tash,  a  Greek  village  about  six  miles  distant. 

In  November,  Mr.  Johnson  visited  Trebizond,  where  Trebizond. 

Xenophon,  in  his  famous  retreat  with  the  "  ten  thousand,"  first  came  to 
the  sea,  and  found  a  Greek  population,  which  had  been  there  ever  since 
the  Argonautic  expedition,  before  the  Trojan  war.  Here,  after  the 
overthrow  of  Constantinople  by  the  Crusaders,  a  branch  of  the  imperial 
family  reigned  for  250  years ;  and  from  Kalomeros,  a  member  of  that 
family  who  emigrated  to  Italy,  disdaining  submission  to  the  Turks,  the 
family  of  Buonaparte  is  said  to  be  descended.  Mr.  Johnson  engaged  a 
house,  and  returned  to  Constantinople. 


Mount  UlyijijiLis  and  Bioosa. 

Mr.  Perkins,  missionary  to  the  Nestorians  of  Persia,  The  Nestorians. 
with  his  wife,  left  Constantinople  in  May,  and  passing  by  Trebizond 
and  Erzcriim,  and  meeting  some  unpleasant  detention  from  the  Russian 
authorities,  by  the  kind  aid  of  the  British  Ambassador  to  Persia,  Sir 
John  Campbell,  reached  Tabreez  in  August.  In  October  he  visited 
Ooroomiah,  the  scene  of  his  future  labors,  and  engaged  Mar  Yohanna, 
bishop  of  Galavan,  as  his  teacher  in  Syriac.  He  saw  Mar  Elias,  of 
Mosul,  one  of  the  rival  Patriarchs  of  the  Nestorians,  who  was  delighted 
with  (he  Syriac  spelling  book  and  Scriptures,  and  with  the  prospect  of 
printing  in  the  language  of  the  Nestorians,  and  thanked  Cod  for  the 
commencement  of  the  mission.  After  a  cordial  reception  from  all  par- 
ties, he  returned,  with  the  bishop  and  a  priest,  to  study  the  Syriac  at 
Tabreez. 


300  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1834. 

scio,  Cyprus,  Perfia.  The  Rcv.  Johii  B,  A(l2;er,  -whose  arrival  at  Smyrna  has 
been  mentioned,  the  Rev.  Samuel  R.  Houston,  the  Rev.  Lorenzo  Pease, 
their  wives,  and  the  Rev.  James  L.  Merrick,  sailed  from  Boston  in  Au- 
gust, and  arrived  at  Smyrna  in  October.  Mr.  Houston  visited  Scio, 
where  he  made  arrangements  to  commence  a  mission.  Mr.  Pease 
proceeded  to  Larnica,  in  Cyprus,  the  place  of  his  destination,  and  im- 
mediately informed  the  brethren  at  Beirut,  with  whom  his  mission  was 
to  be  connected.  Mr.  Merrick  went  to  Constantinople,  to  prepare  for 
an  exploring  tour  among  the  Mohammedans  of  Persia. 
c.pePaim.s.  Messrs.  Wilson  and  Wyncoop  returned  in  April,  hav- 

ing selected  Cape  Palmas  as  the  place  for  a  mission  in  Western  Africa. 
Having  made  the  necessary  preparations,  Mr.  Wilson  embarked  at 
New-York,  with  his  wife  and  a  colored  female,  in  November,  and  ar- 
rived at  Cape  Palmas  late  in  December.  The  framed  house  which  he 
had  carried  out  on  his  first  voyage  had  been  erected,  during  his  absence, 
on  land  granted  by  Dr.  Hall,  governor  of  the  Maryland  colony,  and 
the  natives  welcomed  them  to  it  with  shouts  of  joy. 
zoios.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Philip,  missionary  of  the  London  Mis- 

sionary Society  at  Cape  Town,  had  earnestly  recommended,  and  the 
Committee  had  determined  to  undertake,  missions  to  the  Zulus  of  South- 
eastern Africa.  The  Rev.  Aldin  Grout,  Rev.  George  Champion  and 
Dr.  Newton  Adams,  were  designated  to  the  Maritime  Zulus,  in  the 
region  of  Port  Natal ;  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Daniel  Lindley,  Alexander 
E.  Wilson,  and  Henry  Venable,  to  those  of  the  interior.  Mr.  Wilson 
was  also  a  physician.  These  brethren,  with  their  wives,  embarked  at 
Boston,  December  3,  for  Cape  Town,  where  they  were  to  decide  upon 
the  manner  of  reaching  their  respective  fields  of  labor, 
cherokees.  Gcorgia  cotttinued  the  work  of  making  the  Cherokees  wil- 

ling to  emigrate.  Partly  by  force  and  partly  by  fraud.  Dr.  Butler  was 
driven  from  Haweis,  and  removed  to  Brainerd  in  February.  A  little 
later,  the  mission  premises  at  New  Echota  were  seized  by  authority  of 
the  State  for  a  claimant  under  the  lotterry,  and  Mr.  W' orcester  removed 
to  Brainerd.  Miss  Sawyer  continued  the  school  at  Brainerd  till  De- 
cember, when  she  commenced  another,  under  the  patronage  of  Mr.  John 
Ridge,  a  Cherokee  chief,  at  Running  Waters. — Still,  something  was 
done.  Several  natives  were  employed  as  itinerant  schoolmasters, 
for  teaching  to  read  in  Guess'  alphabet.  Each  had  a  circuit  of  schools, 
which  he  taught  one  or  two  days  in  a  week ;  and  thus  many  were 
taught  to  read  the  word  of  God  ;  the  perusal  of  which  proved  the  means 
of  salvation  to  some  who  had  never  seen  a  missionary.  There  were  some 
instances  of  conversion,  and  some  additions  to  the  church,  especially  at 
Carmeljthevicinityofwhich  was  comparatively  free  from  white  intruders. 
( hicknsaw  Mission  Thc  remaining  schools  of  the  Chickasaw  mission 

"' '"'  were  closed,  the  missionaries  were  honorably  discharged, 

and  the  mission  property  was  sold.  Of  the  Chickasaws,  many  took 
reservations,  sold  them  for  small  sums,  and  squandered  away  the  money. 
And  here   and  in   Choctaw   lands   commenced  that    series  of  rabid 


1834.]  WESTERN   AND   NORTHERN   MISSIONS.  301 

speculations  in  every  thing,  which,  becoming  contagious,  pervaded  the 
whole  country,  and  within  the  last  few  years  has  ended  in  such  wide- 
spread bankruptcy  and  general  distress. 

Of  the  Choctaw  mission,  Mr.  Kingsbury  and  Mr.  By-  chod.w. 

ington  spent  a  part  of  the  year  in  the  old  Choctaw  country,  but  a  greater 
part  in  travelling  on  missionary  business  beyond  the  Mississippi.  In  the 
new  country,  five  stations  had  been  commenced;  there  w'ere  three 
churches,  with  about  200  members,  and  about  150  children  w'ere  taught 
in  seven  or  eight  schools,  two  of  which  were  under  Choctaw  teachers. 
Sickness  prevailed  again  during  the  summer,  which  swept  away  many 
valuable  lives,  but  was  less  fatal  than  that  of  last  year.  Mr.  Wood, 
formerly  teacher  at  Elliot,  again  joined  the  mission  as  a  preacher. 

The  religious  interest  among  the  Arkansas  Cherokees  wesien,  Missiom. 
still  continued.  From  one  neighborhood  near  Dwight,  ten  were  re- 
ceived into  the  church  in  November ;  and  at  Dwight  there  were  several 
who  seemed  to  be  born  again.  Death  deprived  the  mission  of  the  labors 
of  Miss  Thrall,  and  of  the  Rev.  Jesse  Lockwood,  who  had  joined  it 
in  January. 

Ill  health  compelled  Dr.  Weed  to  leave  the  Creek  mission,  and,  in 
December,  Dr.  R.  L.  Dodge  arrived  to  supply  his  place.  An  elementary 
book,  in  the  Creek  language,  prepared  by  Mr.  Fleming,  was  printed. 

Nearly  all  the  Osages  left  Hopefield,  where  there  were  sixteen 
deaths,  mostly  by  the  cholera.  Mr.  Montgomery  died  of  the  cholera 
in  August,  his  widow  of  a  fever  in  September,  and  Mr.  Redfield's  four 
children  during  the  remainder  of  the  year.  By  the  advice  of  Mr.  Kincrs- 
bury  and  Mr.  Byington,  the  establishment  at  Harmony  was  reduced  to 
a  smaller  and  less  expensive  scale. 

The  proposed  reduction  of  the  station  at  Mackinaw  was  Nnnhem  MUsiom. 
nearly  completed.  In  December,  declining  health  compelled  Mr.  Ferry 
to  leave  the  mission.  His  influence  in  that  region  had  been  great  and 
salutary,  and  not  less  than  100  persons  regarded  him  as  their  spiritual 
father. 

The  Indians  were  nearly  all  gone  from  Maumee.  The  boarding 
school  was  closed  in  April,  and  Mr.  Van  Tassel  remained  to  take  care 
of  the  farm  till  it  could  be  sold,  supported  by  its  income,  and  endeavor- 
ing to  be  useful  to  Indians  and  others  as  opportunities  should  present. 

The  removal  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe  to  their  new  residence  on 
Lake  Winnebago  was  nearly  completed.  The  mission  removed  into  its 
new  buildings  in  the  autumn.  During  the  summer,  a  delegation  from 
this  tribe,  at  the  head  of  which  was  John  Metoxen,  the  principal  chief, 
visited  the  Sac  and  Fox  Indians,  to  renew  their  encient  covenant  of 
peace,  and  to  recommend  Christianity  and  civilization.  Their  Christian 
deportment  on  the  journey  attracted  general  notice. — Mr.  Barber's  labors 
this  autumn  at  Fort  Winnebago  were  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  a 
number  of  persons,  who  were  afterwards  organized  as  a  church  by  Mr. 
Marsh. 

By  direction  of  the  Committee,  the  Re\\  Samuel  Par-  n»w  in<ii«n  .Mii.i<.nt. 


302  HISTORY   OF   THE  AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1834. 

ker,  the  Rev.  John  Dunbar  and  Mr.  Samuel  Allis  left  Ithaca  in  May,  to 
explore  the  Indian  country  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  They  arrived 
at  St.  Louis  too  late  to  join  the  annual  caravan,  whose  protection  is 
needed  in  crossing  the  mountains.  Mr.  Parker  returned  to  prepare  for 
another  attempt  next  year.  Mr.  Dunbar  and  Mr.  Allis  remained  in  that 
region,  and  in  the  autumn,  at  Council  Bluffs,  met  some  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  Grand  Pawnees  and  Pawnee  Loups,  and  proposed  to  teach  their 
people  a  new  religion  and  do  them  good.  The  proposal  was  favor- 
ably received.  They  accompanied  the  chiefs  to  their  homes.  In 
a  few  days,  both  tribes  started,  with  their  new  teachers,  on  their  winter's 
hunting  expedition. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Williamson  explored  the  Indian  country  north  of 
Missouri,  and  reported  in  favor  of  establishing  a  mission  to  the  Sioux, 
somewhere  near  Fort  Snelling. 

Peter  P.  Osunkerhine,  of  the  St.  Francis  tribe  of  Abernaquis,  about 
60  miles  below  Montreal,  in  Canada,  had  become  pious  while  a  member 
of  Moor's  Charity  School,  at  Hanover,  N.  H.  He  returned  to  his  tribe, 
and  prepared  an  elementary  book  in  their  language,  which  was  printed 
at  the  expense  of  the  Board.  He  began  to  teach  school  and  hold  reli- 
gious meetings  .on  the  Sabbath,  and  three  or  four  became  pious.  The 
Roman  Catholic  priests  were  alarmed,  and  induced  the  government  to 
withdraw  his  salary  as  schoolmaster.  He  applied  to  the  Committee 
for  a  small  annual  allowance,  which  was  granted,  and  he  went  on  with 
his  school  and  his  Sabbath  meetings,  with  encouraging  success. 
sandwich  Wands.  At  thc  Sandwlch  Islands,  all  good  things  were  slowly 

recovering  from  the  shock  produced  by  the  late  political  changes. 
Of  the  795  natives  who  had  been  received  into  the  churches  since  the 
mission  commenced,  only  seven  had  been  excommunicated.  The  reli- 
gious state  of  the  churches  was  improving  ;  there  were  conversions  at 
most  of  the  stations  ;  and  at  the  general  meeting  in  June,  77  additions 
to  the  churches  were  reported. 

The  cause  of  good  morals  began  to  rally.  The  king  published  laws 
against  murder,  manslaughter,  theft,  perjury  and  adultery,  and  for  pun- 
ishing offences  committed  during  intoxication.  The  traffick  in  ardent 
spirits  was  almost  wholly  suppressed,  except  on  Oahu.  At  Lahaina,  a 
Marine  Association  was  formed  for  the  support  of  temperance  and  good 
morals  generally,  by  16  masters  and  18  officers  of  vessels  in  port. 

An  old  press  and  type  were  sent  to  the  High  School  at  Lahainaluna; 
and  on  the  14th  of  February,  the  first  newspaper  ever  printed  on  the 
islands  was  struck  off.  It  was  called  Ka  Lama  Hawaii,  the  Hawaiian 
Luminary,  and  was  designed  for  the  school.  Afterwards,  Ke  Kumu 
Hawaii,  the  Hawaiian  Teacher,  a  religious  newspaper  for  general  cir- 
culation, was  commenced  at  Honolulu,  edited  by  Mr.  Tinker. 

The  mission  now  had  16  stations,  14  out-stations,  and,  including  a 
reinforcement  on  the  way,  24  missionaries  and  42  assistant  missiona- 
ries. The  reinforcement  embarked  at  Boston,  December  -5.  It  consist- 
ed of  the  Rev.  Titus  Coan,  who  had  been  one  of  the  explorers  in  Pata- 


1835.]  MEETING   AT   BALTIMORE.       DEATH    OF    DR.    WISNER.  303 

gonia;  Mr.  Henry  Dimond,  bookbinder;  Mr.  Edwin  0.  Hall,  printer; 
their  wives;  Miss  Lydia  Brown  and  Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Hitchcock. 
Miss  Hitchcock  went  to  reside  with  her  brother,  as  a  teacher.  Miss 
Brown  went  to  teach  the  natives  to  make  cloth  from  the  cotton  which 
grows  there  spontaneously,  and  took  out  a  quantity  of  domestic  appara- 
tus for  that  purpose. — Mrs.  Rogers  died  suddenly  on  the  23d  of  May ; 
and  Mr.  Shepard,  whose  health  had  long  been  feeble,  died  during  the 
general  meeting  in  June.  Mr.  Johnstone  engaged  in  teaching  the  Oahu 
Charity  School,  for  the  children  of  foreign  residents,  an  employment  not 
embraced  in  the  legitimate  objects  of  the  Board,  and  became  disconnect- 
ed with  the  mission. 


CHAPTER    XXVII 


1S35. — Meeting  at  Baltimore. — Death  of  Dr.  Wisner. — Changes  in  the  Mah- 
ratia  mission. — Ceylon. — Revivals. — Reinforcement. — China. — Voyages  up 
the  Min  and  along  the  coast. — Dr.  Parker's  dispensary. — Arrests  threaten- 
ed.— Printing  removed  to  Singapore. — Siam. —  Arrival  of  Dr.  Bradley. — 
Order  for  their  removal. — Invitation  to  Chantaboon,  accepted. — Singapore. 
—Printing,  preaching,  Bible  class,  and  candidates  for  baptism. — Chae 
Hoo  baptized. — Reinforcement. — Greece. — Proclamation  concerning  the 
Septuagint. — Education  ot"  Greek  youths  in  the  United  States. — Constanti- 
nople.— Progress  of  revival. — First  Jewish  convert. — Missions  commenced 
at  Scio  and  Trebizond. — Armenian  type  for  Smyrna. — Syria. — Druzes  re- 
quest baptism. — Schools  at  Jerusalem,  and  in  Cyprus. — Persia. — The  Nes- 
torians. — Favorable  commencement  of  the  mission — Africa. — Schools  at 
Fair  Hope. — Zulu  mission  on  its  way. — Cherokees. — Schermerhorn's 
treaty. — Mr.  Worcester  and  the  press  removed  to  D wight. — Sioux  mission 
commenced. — Expedition  to  the  Oregon. — Revival  at  Mackinaw. — Sand- 
wich Islands. — Q,uiet  progress. — Hoapili's  school  law. — Spinning  and  weav- 
ing taught.— Return  of  Dr.  Chapin. 

The  26th  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Baltimore,  on  the  9th,  10th 
and  11th  of  September.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wisner,  one  of  the  Correspond- 
ing Secretaries,  had  been  removed  by  death,  after  an  illness  of  four 
days,  on  the  ninth  of  February.  The  Board  recorded  on  the  minutes  of 
this  meeting,  "  their  deep  sense  of  the  eminent  talents,  the  fervent  piety, 
the  large  views  and  the  persevering  diligence  of  their  departed  brother 
and  fellow  laborer,"  and  "  their  grateful  recollection  of  his  faithful  and 
important  services." 

The  Rev.  William  J.  Armstrong,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  Secretary  of  the 
Central  Board  of  Foreign  i^.Iissions,  was  chosen  Secretary  for  Domestic 
Correspondence,  in  place  of  Dr.  Wisner.  It  was  thought  best  that 
hereafter  neither  of  the  Secretaries,  nor  the  Treasurer,  should  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Prudential  Committee.  Daniel  Noyes,  Esq.  was  chosen  to 
fill  the  vacancy  in  that  Committee,  and  Charles  Scudder,  Esq.  to  sup- 
ply his  place  as  Auditor. 


304  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

The  receipts  of  the  Board  for  eleven  months  had  exceeded  those  of 
the  whole  preceding  year,  by  about  $11,000.  More  than  $45,000 
had  also  been  received  from  Bible,  Tract  and  other  societies,  and  ex- 
pended for  them ;  making  the  entire  amount  expended  by  the  Board 
about  $209,000. 

Mahratia  Missions.  In  the  Mahratta  mlssions,  there  were  several  changes. 
It  became  evident  that  Mrs.  Read  could  not  live  in  India.  Mr. 
Read  therefore  embarked  with  her  in  March,  and  arrived  in  the  United 
States,  by  way  of  Liverpool,  in  November.  The  Rev.  Henry  Ballan- 
tine  and  Mr.  Elijah  A.  Webster,  printer,  arrived  at  Bombay  in  October. 
Mr.  Sampson,  the  printer,  had  just  left  on  a  voyage  to  Singapore,  to  ar- 
rest the  progress  of  a  pulmonary  disease.  It  was  too  late.  He  died  at 
Allepie,  December  22.  In  December,  Mr.  Stone's  health  compelled 
him  to  embark  for  Ceylon. 

There  were  some  additions  to  the  churches,  which  raised  the  num- 
ber of  native  members  to  thirteen  at  Bombay,  and  eight  at  Ahmednug- 
gur.  Three  of  these  were  employed  by  the  mission  as  assistants.  There 
were  in  all,  40  free  schools,  with  1620  pupils.  One  of  these  was  a 
school  of  30  girls,  taught  by  Mrs.  Graves  at  Malcolm  Peth,  on  the  Ma- 
haburlishwur  Hills,  where  a  due  regard  to  health  compelled  Mr.  Graves 
to  reside. 

Ceylon.  Revival.  The  HBW  year  found  the  Ceylon  mission  in  the  midst  of 

one  of  its  most  interesting  revivals.  Symptoms  of  awakening  had  ap- 
peared as  early  as  October,  1834 ;  and  the  revival  in  the  churches  led 
to  special  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the  impenitent.  A  protracted 
meeting  commenced  at  Batticotta,  on  the  12th  of  November,  and  contin- 
ued through  the  17th.  Every  member  of  the  Seminary  appeared  to  be 
deeply  impressed  with  the  truth  and  importance  of  vital  piety,  and  a  con- 
siderable number  appeared  to  become  truly  penitent.  From  that  time 
forth,  the  native  church  members  understood  better  than  before,  what 
efforts  they  ought  to  make  for  the  conversion  of  their  relatives  and 
friends,  and  systematic  efforts  were  made,  not  wholly  w^ithout  success. 
In  March  15  seminarists  and  two  others  were  added  to  the  church,  and 
ten  or  twelve  others  were  candidates  for  admission.  Before  the  meet- 
ing at  Batticotta  had  closed,  the  tidings  of  what  was  doing  there,  pro- 
duced a  deep  impression  at  Oodooville.  Here  the  work  appears  to  have 
been  remarkably  rapid  and  powerful ;  indicating  that  its  subjects  had 
very  clear  views  of  their  duty,  before  they  were  thus  awakened  to  per- 
form it.  Here  eleven  girls  belonging  to  the  boarding  school,  and  two 
others  were  received  into  the  church  in  March,  and  others  were  candi- 
dates for  admission. — The  same  tidings  were  also  a  means  of  awakening 
at  Tillipally,  where,  in  a  short  time,  20  gave  evidence  of  a  change  of 
heart,  and  where  13  were  added  to  the  church  in  March.  Protracted 
meetings  were  also  held,  with  good  results,  at  Panditeripo,  at  Manepy, 
and  at  Chavagacherry.  The  whole  number  added  to  the  church  in 
March  was  51,  of  whom  48  were  received  at  one  meeting  at  Batticotta. 
The  admissions  during  the  year  were  76. 


1835.] 


MADURA.      MISSION   TO   CHINA. 


305 


On  the  17th,  iSth  and  19th  of  November,  another  protracted  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Batticotta.  On  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  85  pro- 
fessed their  resolution  to  follow  Christ.  Of  these  40  wished,  in  Decem- 
ber, to  be  regarded  as  candidates  for  admission  to  the  church ;  but,  ex- 
cept in  a  few  marked  cases,  there  had  not  been  time  to  form  opinions 
of  their  fitness.  At  the  same  time,  the  church  at  Oodooville  was  favored 
from  on  high,  and  several  members  of  the  girls'  school  were  evidently 
born  again. 

The  Rev.  John  M.  S.  Perry  and  wife,  who  embarked  in  May,  join- 
ed the  mission  in  September.  Mr.  Winslow,  having  married,  sailed  from 
Philadelphia  in  November  on  his  return,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  Rob- 
ert 0.  Dwight  and  his  wife. 

Ma-i-ra.  With  the  approbatioH  of  both  missions,  Mr.  Eckard  of 

Batticotta  and  Mr.  Hoisington  of  Madura  exchanged  places  early  in  the 
year.  Mrs.  Todd,  of  the  Madura  mission,  died  on  the  11th  of  Septem- 
ber. Mr.  Todd  then  visited  Ceylon.  He  returned  in  October,  accom- 
panied by  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Hall  and  Rev.  J.  J.  Lawrence,  who  came  to 
reinforce  the  mission,  and  Mr.  Poor,  who  expected  to  labor  there  for 
three  months  and  then  return.  The  mission  was  employed  in  establish- 
ing schools  in  the  city  and  adjacent  villages,  and  in  other  preparatory 
labors. 

MiMion  10 chii...  The  Rev.  Edwin  Stevens,  Chaplain  of  the  American 

Seamen's  Friend  Society  at  Canton,  was  acting  in  concert  with  the  mis- 
sion there,  of  which,  according  to  a  previous  arrangement,  he  became  a 
member  in  the  autumn.     Several  voyages  having  been  made  along  the 


Landing  at  Woo-sung. 

39 


306  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

coast  of  China,  Mr.  Stevens,  Mr.  GutzlafF  and  an  English  gentleman 
determined  in  May  to  test  the  practicability  of  visiting  the  interior,  by 
ascending  the  Min  River,  if  possible,  as  far  as  the  famous  Bohea  Hills. 
In  four  days  they  ascended  about  70  miles,  with  no  very  serious  moles- 
tation ;  but  on  the  fifth,  two  parties  of  soldiers  fired  upon  their  boat  from 
opposite  sides  of  the  river.  Two  of  the  crew  were  slightly  wounded. 
They  then  returned,  having  distributed  a  considerable  number  of  books, 
and  learned  that  missionaries  would  not  be  allowed  to  visit  the  interior. 
In  August,  September  and  October,  Mr.  Stevens  accompanied  Mr.  Med- 
hurst,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  in  the  American  ship  Huron, 
w^hich  carried  no  opium,  on  a  voyage  along  the  coast  as  far  as  the  pro- 
vince of  Shan-tung,  where  they  distributed  nearly  4000  volumes.  In 
the  great  commercial  city  of  Shang-hae,  on  the  river  Woo-sung,  they 
soon  distributed  1000. 

Dr.  Parker,  having  returned  from  Singapore,  opened  a  dispensary 
in  November,  and  had  300  patients  within  a  month.  Several  success- 
ful attempts  to  restore  sight  to  the  blind  called  forth  extravagant  ex- 
pressions of  gratitude. 

The  voyages  made  this  year,  especially  that  up  the  Min,  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  government.  One  of  Mr.  Gutzlafl's  tracts,  which 
was  on  "  Free  Intercourse,  on  Gospel  Principles,"  and  which,  with 
others,  was  forwarded  to  Pekin,  may  have  been  regarded  as  seditious. 
Proclamations  were  issued  for  the  arrest  of  "  traitorous  natives"  who 
helped  to  make  the  books,  and  forbidding  the  "  English  barbarians"  to 
"indulge  their  own  desires"  by  sailing  along  the  coast.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  transfer  the  whole  establishment  for  Chinese  printing  to 
Singapore  ;  and  five  Chinese  workmen  sailed  for  that  place  on  the  26th 
of  December. 

Mission  to  si4m.  Dr.  Bradlcy,  with  a  press  and  Siamese  type,  arrived  at 

Bangkok  in  July.  He  opened  a  temporary  receptacle  for  patients,  and 
they  soon  came  at  the  rate  of  40  or  50  a  day,  to  whom  religious  in- 
struction w^as  given.  The  jealousy  of  some  of  the  natives  was  excited, 
and  an  order  from  government  was  obtained  in  October,  requiring  them 
to  leave  the  Chinese  quarter  of  the  city  in  five  days.  One  reason  as- 
signed for  this  order  was,  that  they  did  good  every  day,  while  it  was 
not  lawful  for  the  king  himself  to  do  good  more  than  ten  days  in  suc- 
cession ;  so  that  there  was  danger  of  their  acquiring  a  greater  stock  of 
merit  than  the  king  and  the  nobles.  It  was  suggested,  too,  that  when 
they  had  thus  gained  numerous  Iriends,  and  had  made  the  Chinese  in- 
telligent by  their  schools,  they  might  raise  a  rebellion.  However,  they 
were  not  forbidden  to  do  good  every  day  in  some  other  part  of  the  city. 
They  had  at  this  time  one  Chinese  school  in  operation,  and  were  prepar- 
ing to  open  others. 

Soon  after  their  removal,  Luang  Nai  Sit,  or,  as  he  was  more  usually 
called.  Coon  Sit,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Prah  Klang,  (prime  minister  and 
commander  of  the  army)  invited  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  and  Dr.  Bradley 
to  accompany  him  to  Chantaboon,  the  great  Siamese  station  for  ship- 


MISSION  TO  SIA.M. 


308  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

building,  and  to  teach  his  family  English.  He  said  there  were  many 
Chinese  there,  who  "  had  no  god,  and  no  religion,  and  who  greatly 
needed  the  labors  of  missionaries."  They  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
found  a  promising  field  for  missionary  labor,  in  a  mountainous  region, 
apparently  favorable  to  health.  Dr.  Bradley  returned  to  Bangkok  in 
December.  Mr.  Johnson  remained,  according  to  invitation. 
sinjaport  Mission.  Miss  Adclinc  Whitc  arrived,  in  company  with  Dr. 

Bradley,  on  the  12th  of  January,  and  in  a  few  days,  according  to  pre- 
vious agreement,  was  married  to  Mr.  Tracy.  About  the  same  time, 
Chinese  printing  commenced,  under  the  direction  of  Achang,  who  had 
been  the  most  active  assistant  of  Leang  Afa  before  they  were  driven 
from  China.  About  2,000,000  pages  were  struck  off  this  year ;  be- 
sides 60,000  pages  in  Malay  and  41,000  in  Bugis,  and  some  in  Siamese 
for  the  Baptist  mission  at  Bangkok,  and  an  English  spelling  book,  pre- 
pared mostly  by  Mrs.  Tracy.  A  brick  printing  office,  65  feet  by  17, 
was  commenced. 

Dr.  Parker  was  thronged  with  patients,  from  the  time  of  his  arrival ; 
and  in  the  winter  a  small  dispensary  was  opened,  to  which  40  or  50 
resorted  daily.  Here  Mr.  Tracy  began  to  preach  in  Chinese,  to  an 
audience  of  50  or  60,  composed  of  patients,  children  and  youth  in  the 
schools,  printers,  and  others  in  the  service  of  the  mission.  In  August, 
he  commenced  a  Sabbath  evening  meeting  with  ten  or  twelve  persons, 
some  of  whom  offered  themselves  as  candidates  for  baptism.  In  August, 
Dr.  Parker  sailed  for  Canton,  and  left  the  care  of  the  dispensary,  as  well 
as  the  printing,  the  two  schools,  and  all  other  departments  of  the  mission, 
upon  the  hands  of  Mr.  Tracy.  In  addition  to  all  these  labors,  he  com- 
menced a  Bible  class  in  October.  On  the  11th  of  that  month,  he 
baptized  Chae  Hoo,  the  first  fruit  of  the  American  mission  to  China, 
and  the  first  Chinese  convert  at  Singapore.  He  had  resided  with  Mr. 
Tomlin,  but  had  received  his  most  important  instructions  from  Mr. 
Abeel. 

In  July  the  Rev.  James  T.  Dickinson,  missionary  to  China,  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Arms,  one  of  the  explorers  of  Patagonia,  now  on  an  exploring  visit 
to  Borneo  and  neighboring  islands,  and  Mr.  Alfred  North,  printer,  with 
Mrs.  Arms  and  Mrs.  North,  sailed  from  Boston  for  Singapore. 
Greece.  Thcrc  was  no  very  considerable  change  in  the  condition 

or  prospects  of  the  mission  in  Greece.  A  license  was  obtained  from 
the  government,  to  distribute  books  in  all  the  towns  and  villages  of  the 
kingdom.  In  the  first  six  months  of  the  year,  Mr.  King  distributed  16,000 
school  books  and  tracts. — On  the  second  of  April,  the  "  Holy  Coun- 
cil" issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  that  they  had  examined  the  new 
translation  of  the  Old  Testament  from  the  Hebrew,  and  found  it  to  differ 
from  the  Septuagint ;  that  the  Septuagint  alone  was  to  be  regarded  as 
the  canonical  translation,  to  be  read  in  the  churches  and  used  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  clergy,  youth  and  people  in  general ;  and 
that,  for  the  above-mentioned  use,  every  other  translation  was  "  unca- 
nonical,  and  inadmissible  in  the  eastern  church."    This,  however,  did 


1835.]  PROGRESS   OF   REVIVAL.      FIRST   JEWISH   CONVERT.  309 

not  forbid,  much  less  prevent,  the  free  circulation  of  the  Old  Testament 
in  Modern  Greek  among  individuals,  for  their  private  use. 

During  the  summer,  four  Greek  youths,  sent  by  Mr.  King  and  Mr. 
Rlggs  for  education  in  the  United  States,  arrived  at  Boston.  On  their 
arrival,  provision  was  made  for  their  support  for  a  time,  and  the  missions 
were  directed  to  send  no  more  at  the  expense  of  the  Board,  without 
the  previous  consent  of  the  Committee.  The  whole  experience  of  the 
Board  had  shown,  that  it  is  generally  best  for  young  men,  when  possible, 
to  be  educated  in  their  own  country. 

The  revival  of  learning  and  piety  among  the  Arrne-  con^tancnopie. 
nians  continued  to  advance,  with  a  slow  but  steady  pro-  i''^  Armei,.ans. 
gress ;  but,  as  none  were  gathered  out  of  the  Armenian  church  into 
a  new  organization  ;  as,  in  some  cases,  the  change  seemed  to  consist 
only  in  the  waking  up  of  piety  that  existed  before ;  and  as,  in  most 
cases,  it  was  only  the  reception  of  truth,  in  various  degrees,  into  the 
understanding,  without  any  suspicion  that  any  more  inward  change 
could  be  needed,  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain  its  progress  definitely. 
Something  more  was  needed.  The  High  School  at  Pera  had  received  its 
full  number  of  scholars,  (thirty,)  and  many  others  desired  admission. 
Mr.  Paspati  having  resigned  the  presidency,  to  study  medicine  at  Paris, 
Hohannes  was  appointed  his  successor.  Lectures  were  delivered  on 
various  branches  of  natural  science,  illustrated  by  apparatus;  and  there 
were  classes  in  the  English,  French,  Italian,  Armenian,  Turkish,  An- 
cient Greek  and  Hebrew  languages. 

Among  the  Greeks,  better  views  of  education  were  G«ei"- 

making  progress,  notwithstanding  some  opposition  among  the  clergy. 
Several  new  schools  for  Greek  boys  were  opened. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Jews  at  Constantinople  are  Jew., 

the  descendants  of  those  who  had  been  expelled  from  Spain.  Their 
language  is  the  Hebrew-Spanish ;  that  is,  the  Spanish,  with  a  mixture 
of  the  Hebrew  words,  and  written  in  the  Spanish  Rabbinical  alphabet. 
Mr.  Schauffler  was  engaged  in  revising  the  Old  Testament  in  this  lan- 
guage. He  was  assisted  by  Arekal,  a  Jewish  Christian,  who  showed 
some  signs  of  piety.  There  was  an  unquiet  state  of  mind  among  the 
Jews.  About  eight  years  before,  150  of  them  had  renounced  Juda- 
ism at  once ;  but  persecution  soon  brought  them  all  back  again,  except 
Arekal  and  a  few  others.  Now,  several  of  them  wished  to  become 
Christians,  and  requested  baptism ;  but  evidence  of  piety  was  wanting. 
If  they  were  ready  to  meet  danger  and  loss  for  the  sake  of  becoming 
Christians,  they  seemed  incapable  of  understanding  that  any  thing  more 
could  be  required  of  them.  Some  escaped  from  the  city,  intending  to 
join  the  Armenian  church  in  some  other  place. 

At  length,  December  25,  Mr.  Schauffler  baptized  the  first  Jewish 
convert,  Naphtali  Leifschitz,  a  German  Jew,  whom  he  named  Herman 
Marcussohn.  Mr.  Schauffler  had  known  him  16  years  before,  in  South 
Russia.  He  had  now  come  from  Odessa,  where  the  Russian  govern- 
ment would  not  permit  him  to  profess  Christianity,  except  as  a  mem- 


310  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

ber  of  the  Greek  church,  bringing  letters  to  Mr.  Schauffler,  and  re- 
questing baptism.  Mr.  Schauffler  engaged  him  as  a  literary  assistant. 
The  Rev.  Henry  A.  Homes  joined  the  mission  December  26.  Hav- 
ing spent  some  time  in  Paris  in  the  study  of  Oriental  languages,  he  was 
ordained  in  that  city  in  April,  at  the  same  time  with  several  French 
missionaries  to  Southern  Africa.  Three  members  of  the  Board  were 
present.  On  his  way  to  Constantinople,  he  passed  through  Switzer- 
land, Italy  and  Greece,  where  he  collected  for  the  use  of  the  Board, 
much  valuable  information,  not  easy  to  be  obtained. 
Eroosa.  Thc  Rcv.  Philander  0.  Powers  and  his  wife  arrived 

at  Broosa  in  February;  and  in  October,  removed  to  the  Armenian  quar- 
ter of  the  city,  while  Mr.  Schneider  continued  to  reside  among  the 
Greeks.  The  opposition  of  the  clergy  circumscribed  their  operations, 
and  finally  broke  up  the  Armenian  school.  Yet  the  school  at  Demir 
Tash  continued  to  flourish.  Another  was  established  at  Ghemlik,  a 
large  Greek  village.  Mr.  Schneider  taught  a  few  Greek  boys,  and 
his  wife  opened  a  school  for  girls.  A  considerable  number  of  Bibles, 
Testaments,  school  books  and  tracts  were  distributed,  some  of  which 
■were  carried  to  remote  towns  and  villages. 

Trebijonj.  Mr.  Johuston  returned  from   Constantinople  to  Trebi- 

zond  with  a  letter  from  the  Grand  Vizier,  directing  the  Pasha  to  put 
him  in  possession  of  the  house  which  he  had  conditionally  engaged, 
declaring  that  the  opposition  of  some  of  the  priests  to  his  efforts  to  ob- 
tain a  residence,  was  contrary  to  the  treaty  of  friendship  with  the 
United  States,  and  requiring  the  Pasha  to  protect  him,  and  any  other 
Americans  who  should  reside  there,  till  an  American  Consul  should  be 
appointed.  The  plague  broke  out  soon  after  Mr.  Johnston's  arrival, 
and  prevented  his  public  labors. — The  Rev.  William  C.  Jackson  and 
wife  sailed  from  Boston,  December  3,  to  join  this  station. 
Smyrna.  Armenian  At  Sfflyma,  the  manufacture  of  books  went  on  as 
''""""^'  usual,  but  the  establishment  needed  perfecting.     The  Ro- 

man Catholic  convent  at  Venice  had  manufactured  Armenian  type, 
much  more  elegant  than  that  which  the  Board  had  procured  at  Paris, 
and  would  sell  none  to  the  mission ;  for  they  hoped,  by  the  superior 
beauty  of  their  work,  to  monopohze  the  circulation  of  books  among 
the  Armenians.  There  was  some  reason  to  fear  that  they  would  suc- 
ceed. Mr.  Hallock  therefore  visited  the  United  States,  and  superin- 
tended the  manufacture,  at  New  York,  of  punches  for  making  Arme- 
nian type  as  beautiful  as  the  Venitian.  Having  procured  all  necessary 
materials  for  Armenian,  Greek  and  Hebrew  type  and  stereotype  cast- 
ing, printing  and  book-binding,  he  returned  the  next  year  to  his  station. 
scio.  Mr,  Houston  commenced  his  residence  at  Scio  in  Jan- 

uary. After  allaying  the  fears  of  the  clergy  by  a  visit  to  the  bishop 
and  suitable  explanations,  he  established  three  Lancasterian  schools, 
and  introduced  books  and  improved  methods  of  teaching  into  other 
schools.  Some  of  the  people  were  astonished  at  the  Alphabetarion, 
(modern   Greek  spelhng  book)  because  they  "could  understand  it." 


1835.]  SYRIA.       THE   DRUZES.       SCHOOLS   AT   JERUSALEM.  3n 

They  had  never  seen  books  before,  except  in  ancient  Greek,  which  thev 
could  not  understand.  -^ 


Syria. 


At  Beirut,  the  attendance  on  preaching  increased  ;  the  ^yn- 

Arabic  congregation  usually  amounting  to  40  or  50,  or  sometimes  70 
or  80.  In  July,  the  mission  had  ten  schools  in  and  around  Beirut  in 
neighboring  towns  and  on  the  mountains,  containing  311  pupils  'in 
ISovember,  Miss  Rebecca  W.  Williams  arrived  by  way  of  Smyrna  to 
engage  in  teaching.  In  December,  a  boarding  school  for  boys,  intend- 
ed to  grow  into  a  High  School,  was  commenced  with  six  pupils.      • 

Some  of  the  most  interesting  labors  of  the  mission,  this         Ti.e  Dru,e» 
year,  were  among  the  Druzes  of  Mount  Lebanon.     The  Druzes  for- 
merly held  their  religion  as  a  secret,  and  chose  to  pass  for  Muhamme- 
dans,    as  more  advantageous  to  their   temporal  interests.     Now  they 
were  called  upon,  as  Muharamedans,  to  furnish  recruits  for  the  Eo-yn. 
tian  army.     To  avoid  this,  many  of  them  wished  to  become  ChristTans. 
Ihey  cameto  the  missionaries,  desired  to  join  their  sect,  rather  than 
any  of  the  native  sects,  and  requested  baptism.     They  were  received 
as  inquirers  after  the  truth,  and  instructed  accordingly.     Mr.  Bird  first 
and  Mr.  Smith  afterwards,  preached,  and  Mrs.  Dodge  taught  a  school 
amon^  them  at  'Aleih,  during  the  summer,  and  in  the  autumn  their 
attendance  at  Beirut  and  their  requests  for  baptism  greatly  increased 
Ihey  had  yet  furnished  no  recruits  for  the  Egyptians;  but  about  the 
end  of  September,  Ibrahim  Pasha  suddenly  appeared  at  Deir  el  Kamar 
their  capital,  with  18,000  men,  and  demanded  their  arms,  which  they 
were  obliged  to  surrender ;  he  then  disarmed  the  Maronites,  and  took 
from  both  what   recruits  he  then  wanted.     Applications  for  baptism 
now_  multiplied  exceedingly,  from  the  nobles  as  well  as' others,  some 
offering  to  pledge  all  their  property  that  they  would  never  apostatize  • 
and  could  the  mission  have  stood  forth    as  the  head  of  a  sect,  bap- 
tizing all  who  wished  without  regard  to  character,  it  mio-ht  have' made 
nearly  ^the  whole  Druze  population,  of  nearly  or  quite  100,000,  nom- 
inal   Lnristians  and  furious  partisans.     As  they  were  not  baptized,  their 
zeal  soon  declined  ;  anrl  at  the  end  of  the  year,  only  Kasim  and  his  fam- 
ily were  constant  attendants. 

In  August,  Mr.  Bird  was  compelled  by  the  declining  health  of  his  wife 
to  sail  for  Smyrna.  After  remaining  there  nearly  a  year,  they  came  to 
the  Lnited  States  In  December,  the  Rev.  James  L.  Thompson  and 
Rev.  Story  Hebard,  with  their  wives,  the  Rev.  John  F.  Lanneau,  and 
Miss  Betsey  Tilden,  teacher,  sailed  from  Boston  for  Syria 

Dr.  Dodge  and  Mr.  Whiting  had  been  stationed  at  Je-  Jen,.„..„ 

rusalem  near  the  close  of  the  last  year.  The  fatigue  and  exposure  of  a 
journey  to  Beirut  and  back  threw  Dr.  Dodge  into  a  fever,  of  which  he 
died  on  the  28th  of  January.  Mr.  Pease  was  then  called  from  Cyprus 
to  Jerusalem,  where  he  remained  till  autumn.  Mr.  Whiting  found  some 
encouragement  in  distributing  books  and  tracts,  and  was  repeatedly  im- 
portuned to  receive  nominal  converts;  for  here  also  many  were  desirous 
to  change  their  religion  and  «  become  Americans."    He  opened  a  school 


312  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1835. 

under  a  hired  teacher  in  August ;  but  the  Latin  Convent  had  influence 
enouo-h  to  break  it  up.  A  few  Muhararaedans  put  their  daughters  under 
the  instruction  of  Mrs.  Whiting.  The  Latin  monks,  as  if  afraid  that 
the  Muhararaedans  would  be  raade  heretical,  endeavored  to  break  up  this 
school  also ;  but  without  success. 

Cyprus,  In  October,  Mr.  Pease  returned  to  Larnica,  and  com- 

menced his  labors  among  the  70,000  Greeks  of  Cyprus.  The  mission 
school  had  been  opened  on  the  14th  of  September,  by  Mr.  Pierides,  a 
well  qualified  Greek,  who  understood  English.  It  had  now  50  pupils, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  year,  78. 

Nestoriains.  This  ycar  the  mission  to  the  Nestorians  of  Persia  reached 

the  place  of  its  destination.  The  name  is  derived  from  Nestorius,  a  na- 
tive of  Syria,  who  was  made  bishop  of  Constantinople  in  the  year  428, 
and  was  deposed  for  heresy  by  the  third  general  council  of  Ephesus,  in 
431.  The  people,  however,  reject  the  name,  and  say  it  is  a  mistake  for 
JYusrany,  Nazarenes,  which  is  the  Arabic  term  for  Christians.  Nesto- 
rius was  deposed  for  holding  that  Mary  was  not  the  "  mother  of  God," 
and  that  the  divine  and  human  natures  in  Christ  constituted  two  persons; 
both  of  which  he  denied.  Yet  he  seems  to  have  perceived  that  the  pop- 
ular current  was  setting  strongly  towards  the  error  of  ascribing  divine 
attributes  and  honors  to  Mary;  and  in  his  opposition  to  it  may  very  pro- 
bably have  used  bad  arguments,  and  even  advanced  heretical  opinions. 
He  was  banished,  first  to  Arabia,  and  then  to  Lybia,  and  finally  died  in 
Upper  Egypt.  But  his  opinions  were  not  suppressed.  His  friends 
denied  the  fairness  of  his  trial,  and  the  justice  of  his  condemnation.  They 
defended  his  cause  by  argument,  by  ecclesiastical  manoeuvres,  and  even 
by  political  intrigues ;  and  the  sect  increased,  till  at  last  the  Nestorian 
archbishop  of  Seleucia  and  Ctesiphon  proclaimed  himself  Patriarch  of  the 
East.  The  sect  continued  to  flourish,  though  occasionally  persecuted, 
under  the  Persians,  the  Saracens  and  the  Tartars.  They  had  celebrated 
schools  for  theology  and  general  education.  For  centuries,  they  main- 
tained flourishing  missions  in  Tartary,  China,  and  other  eastern  regions. 
Their  churches  were  scattered  from  Syria  and  Cyprus  to  Pekin,  and  from 
the  coast  of  Malabar  and  Ceylon  to  the  borders  of  Siberia.  Early  in 
the  eleventh  century,  Unkh  Khan,  a  Tartar  prince  on  the  northern  bor- 
ders of  China,  invited  Nestorian  missionaries  among  his  people,  and 
himself  became  the  famous  Prester  John.  Gengis  Khan  and  several  of 
his  sons  and  grandsons,  who  conquered  China  and  almost  all  Asia,  and 
a  part  of  Europe,  were  connected  with  Prester  John  by  marriage.  Sev- 
eral of  them  had  Christian  wives,  and  one  of  them  at  least  professed 
himself  a  Christian.  Under  some  of  this  dynasty.  Central  Asia  was 
comparatively  a  civilized  and  enlightened  country  ;  and  Christian  trav- 
ellers passed  with  safety  and  comfort  from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  to 
Samarcand  and  Pekin.  Some  of  the  Chinese  emperors  favored  Chris- 
tianity, and  ordered  the  erection  of  numerous  churches.  Meanwhile, 
the  sword  of  Muhammedan  fanaticism  was  advancing  eastward.  Bag- 
dad fell  before  it,  and  all  the  country  on  the  Euphrates;  then  Persia 3 


314  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

then  Caubul,  and  the  regions  to  the  north.  The  Nestorian  church  being 
thus  crushed  in  the  seat  of  its  Hfe  and  power,  its  missions  languished. 
And  finally,  about  the  year  1400,  Tamerlane,  who  has  been  called  "  the 
greatest  of  conquerors,"  swept  like  a  whirlwind  over  the  remains  of  Nes- 
torian Christianity,  prostrating  every  thing  in  his  course.  The  missions 
in  China  had  not  only  languished  for  want  of  support,  but  been  weak- 
ened by  controversies  with  missionaries  from  Rome,  and  still  further  by 
the  expulsion  of  the  Tartar  dynasty  in  1369 ;  but  some  of  the  churches 
still  existed.  Four  bishops  were  sent  to  China  in  1502,  and  in  1540 
Chinese  Nestorians  were  numerous  enough  to  be  noticed  by  persecution. 
In  the  region  of  the  Euphrates,  the  Nestorian  churches  dwindled  under 
Muhamraedan  oppression,  and  were  divided  and  weakened  by  the  in- 
trigues of  Rome.  They  are  now  reduced  to  a  few  hundred  thousands, 
living  among  and  near  the  Koordish  mountains,  on  the  borders  of 
Turkey  and  Persia.  A  considerable  part  of  them,  having  submitted  to 
the  Pope,  are  under  a  Patriarch  appointed  by  him,  and  are  called  the 
"  Chaldean  Church."  Another  considerable  portion  of  them  inhabit 
the  deep  and  almost  inaccessible  glens  of  the  Koordish  mountains. 
Neither  Turks  or  Persians  have  ever  been  able  to  bring  them  under  trib- 
ute. Every  melik,  king,  or  rather  head  of  a  little  clan,  seems  to  be  per- 
fectly independent,  except  so  far  as  they  all  yield  a  voluntary  obedience 
to  their  Patriarch,  Mar  Shimoon,  who  resides  near  Joolamerk,  and  styles 
himself  "  Patriarch  of  the  East."  No  way  had  yet  been  discovered,  by 
which  missionaries  can  penetrate  through  the  Koords,  to  his  residence. 
The  Nestorians  of  Ooroomiah  acknowledge  him  as  their  spiritual  head. 
Many  of  the  errors  of  the  church  of  Rome  are  found  in  their  practice,  and 
in  books  which  they  never  suspect  of  error  ;  but  they  have  adopted  no 
ultimate  standard  of  religious  truth  except  the  Scriptures. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Grant,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Merrick,  left  Constantino- 
ple on  the  18th  of  August,  to  join  Mr.  Perkins  at  Tabriz.  Mr.  Perkins, 
understanding  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  way,  met  them  between 
Trebizond  and  Erzerum.  While  detained  at  Erzerum,  the  Hon.  Hen- 
ry Ellis,  British  Ambassador  to  Persia,  received  them  under  English 
protection.  They  reached  Tabriz  on  the  15th  of  October.  In  about  a 
month,  Mr.  Perkins,  Dr.  Grant  and  their  families  removed  to  Ooroomiah, 
where  they  arrived  on  the  20th  of  November.  Ooroomiah  is  the  ancient 
Thebarma,  said  to  have  been  the  birth-place  of  Zoroaster,  the  founder 
of  the  ancient  religion  of  Persia.  It  is  situated  on  rising  ground,  about 
ten  miles  from  the  lake  and  the  same  distance  from  the  mountains,  and 
contains  about  20,000  inhabitants.  The  surrounding  plain  is  exceeding- 
ly fertile,  and  beautiful  with  gardens  and  groves.  Here,  and  on  the  way, 
the  Nestorians  received  the  mission  with  joy.  The  bishop  Mar  Yohan- 
na  and  the  priest  Abraham  had  left  Mr.  Perkins  in  July,  and  each,  of 
his  own  accord,  had  opened  a  school  for  teaching  English  in  his  native 
village.  Some  of  the  boys  could  already  read  parts  of  the  English  New 
Testament  with  ease  and  accuracy.  A  few  of  these  boys  formed  the 
nucleus  of  a  mission  school  at  Ooroomiah.     It  was  proposed  that  Mr. 


1835.]  AFRICAN   MISSIONS.      CHEROKEES.  315 

Perkins  should  instruct  a  Lancasterian  school  for  educating  teachers,  till 
priest  Abraham  should  be  qualified  to  take  charge  of  it.  Here,  one 
scholar  from  each  of  the  30  Nestorian  villages  was  to  be  boarded  and 
taught  gratuitously,  at  an  expense  of  about  twenty  dollars  a  year.  The 
Muhamraedans,  seeing  these  preparations  for  the  education  of  their 
Christian  neighbors,  resentfully  asked,  "  Are  we  to  be  passed  by  7"  So 
strong  was  their  feeling  on  the  subject,  that  it  was  thought  best  for  Dr. 
Grant  to  spend  an  hour  or  two  a  day  in  teaching  a  school  for  them. 
An  hour  or  two  a  day  was  all  he  could  spare ;  for,  from  his  first  arri- 
val, he  had  been  thronged  with  patients,  eager  to  avail  themselves  of  his 
medical  skill.  Mar  Yohanna  was  his  interpreter,  and  Mar  Gabriel, 
took  his  place  as  teacher  of  Syriac  and  learner  of  English.  A  Bible 
class  was  commenced  ;  and  on  the  27th  of  December,  Mar  Yohanna 
was  present,  and  gave  a  sensible  and  Christian  exposition,  in  Turkish, 
of  the  Scripture  passage  under  consideration.  Both  he  and  Abraham 
had  already  begun  to  give  such  explanations  of  Scripture  to  their  con- 
gregations. 

Mr.  Merrick  remained  at  Tabriz,  preparing  himself  for  his  future  la- 
bors by  the  study  of  the  Persian  language. 

The  station  at  Cape  Palmas  was  named  Fair  Hope.  Mr.  c^pe  p*'""' 
and  Mrs.  Wilson,  after  repeated  attacks  of  the  fever,  became  acchmated, 
and  their  health  was  good.  A  boarding  school  was  opened  with  fifteen 
boys  and  four  girls,  some  of  whom  were  from  a  distance  in  the  interior. 
Mrs.  Wilson  also  opened  a  school,  and  the  establishment  of  others  was 
solicited.  Mr.  Wilson  prepared  a  small  elementary  book  in  the  language 
of  the  natives,  which  was  printed  at  Monrovia  in  December. 

The  whole  mission  to  Southeastern  Africa  found  it  Z"'"  Missions. 
necessary  to  land  at  Cape  Town,  February  5.  On  the  19th  of  March, 
those  destined  to  the  Zulus  of  the  interior,  commenced  their  journey 
through  the  w^ilderness.  On  the  16th  of  May,  they  arrived  at  the  sta- 
tion of  the  London  Missionary  Society  at  Griqua  Town,  where  they  were 
kindly  received  by  Messrs.  Wright  and  Hughes,  and  spent  the  remainder 
of  the  year  in  learning  the  language  of  the  country,  and  other  prepara- 
tions for  their  future  labors. 

The  missionaries  to  the  maritime  Zulus  remained  at  Cape  Town, 
waiting  for  the  termination  of  the  Caffre  war,  till  July.  On  their  depar- 
ture, the  church  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Philip  made  them  a  donation  of 
.£45,  as  an  acknowledgment  for  their  useful  labors  while  there.  They 
arrived  in  Algoa  Bay  on  the  7th  of  August,  and  were  hospitably  receiv- 
ed by  the  missionaries  of  the  London  Society  at  Port  Elizabeth  and 
Bethelsdorp.  On  the  7th  of  December,  the  brethren,  leaving  their  wives, 
sailed  for  Port  Natal,  on  a  preparatory  visit  to  the  scene  of  their  future 
labors. 

Many  of  the  Cherokces,  wearied  out  with  Georgian  op-  cherokeei. 

pressions,  removed  into  those  parts  of  their  country  within  the  limits  of 
North  Carolina  and  Tennessee.  A  small  party  in  the  nation,  at  the 
head  of  which  were  the  Ridge  family  and  Elias  Boudinot,  were  in  fa- 


316  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

vor  of  ceding  their  lands  to  the  United  States  and  removing  to  the  west. 
Early  in  the  year,  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Schermerhorn,  on  the  part  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  agreed  with  the  delegates  of  this  party  at  Washington,  on 
the  outlines  of  a  treaty,  by  which  the  Cherokees  were  to  receive  a  coun- 
try at  the  west,  and  more  than  five  millions  of  dollars  for  their  present 
lands  and  improvements.  The  treaty  was  laid  before  the  nation,  and 
rejected.  Mr.  Schermerhorn  was  sent  to  explain  it,  and  procure  its 
adoption.  He  labored  in  vain  till  December,  when  he  induced  a  coun- 
cil, composed  of  a  part  of  the  Ridge  party,  to  assent  to  the  treaty  in  the 
name  of  the  nation  ;  but  the  nation  denied  their  authority  to  treat. 

By  these  political  troubles,  missionary  labors  were  impeded  and  de- 
ranged, but  not  rendered  wholly  fruitless.  Preaching  was  attended  with 
some  success,  especially  at  Carmel  and  Candy's  Creek.  The  itinerant 
teachers  were  successful.  Jesse  had  14  schools,  with  253  pupils.  Ste- 
phen Foreman  was  ordained  by  the  Union  Presbytery  in  September. 
During  the  same  month.  Dr.  Butler  removed  from  Brainerd,  and  began 
a  new  station  about  25  miles  eastward,  at  Red  Clay. — Mr.  Worcester 
removed  in  April,  with  the  press,  to  Dwight. 

Western  Mi.Mons.  AmoHg  thc  Chcrokces  of  the  Arkansas,  Mr.  Worcester 

spent  the  summer  mostly  in  making  arrangements  for  printing,  and  Mr. 
Washburn  was  absent  in  New  England.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year, 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  again  manifest  at  Fairfield,  at  Dwight, 
and  in  the  vicinity. 

Among  the  Choctaws,  the  year  opened  with  favorable  indications 
of  spiritual  good  ;  and  during  its  continuance,  the  various  branches  of 
missionary  labor  were  carried  on  with  moderate  success,  and  were  slight- 
ly extended. 

There  was  no  considerable  change  in  the  Creek  and  Osage  missions. 
The  Osages  having  left  the  region  around  Harmony,  it  became  manifest 
that  the  station  must  be  abandoned. 

Mr.  Dunbar  and  Mr.  Allis  continued  to  live  among  the  Pawnees, 
travelling  with  their  hunting  parties,  and  learning  their  language  and 
character. 

Sioux  Musiun.  The  missionaries  to  the  Sioux,  or  Dakotas,  arrived  at 

Fort  Snelling  in  May.  One  of  the  officers  at  the  Fort,  aided  by  the 
agent  of  the  Fur  Company  and  others,  had  held  religious  meetings  on 
the  Sabbath  and  taught  a  Sabbath  School  through  the  winter.  Here 
Dr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Stevens  complied  with  the  request  to  organize 
a  church  of  14  members,  including  one  officer  and  seven  privates  who 
were  the  fruits  of  Christian  effort  here  during  the  winter.  In  June,  Mr. 
Stevens  commenced  a  missionary  station  at  Lake  Harriet,  about  six  or 
seven  miles  from  Fort  Snelling.  Here  two  pious  young  men  by  the 
name  of  Pond,  from  Connecticut,  had  been  laboring  successfully  for  a 
year  or  two  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians.  They  had  come  of  their  own 
accord  ;  sent  by  no  society,  and  had  received  no  aid  from  any  quarter, 
except  the  use  of  a  team  and  some  agricultural  implements  from  the  U. 
S.  agent.    Dr.  Williamson  removed  to  Lac  qui  Parle,  on  the  St.  Peter's 


1835.] 


EXPLORATIONS.       SANDWICH   ISLANDS. 


317 


river,  about  200  miles  from  the  Mississippi,  in  July.  Schools  were  open- 
ed at  both  stations. 

Explorations  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains  were  resumed.  Exploration.. 
Dr.  Marcus  Whitman  had  joined  Mr.  Parker,  and  both  proceeded  to  St. 
Louis  in  April.  In  August  they  had  arrived  at  the  Green  river,  a  branch 
of  the  Colerado.  Having  obtained  such  intelligence  as  warranted  the 
establishment  of  a  mission  farther  west.  Dr.  Whitman  returned  to  make 
arrangements  for  it.  Mr.  Parker  continued  his  journey,  and  having  ex- 
plored the  regions  around  the  Columbia  river,  returned  by  way  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands  and  Cape  Horn  early  in  1837.  His  published  account 
is  extremely  interesting,  and  is  the  most  authentic  account  of  the  regions 
which  he  explored. 

Early  in  January,  while  Mr.  Stevens,  of  the  Ojibwa  w-ickinaw.  Eeyivai. 
mission,  was  laboring  for  a  season  at  Mackinaw,  an  awakening  com- 
menced in  the  school,  which  soon  extended  to  the  garrison  and  the  vil- 
lage. In  about  two  months,  18  members  of  the  school,  and  about  20 
others,  appeared  to  be  born  again.  In  June,  20  were  added  to  the 
church,  and  other  additions  were  expected. 

In  the  other  Indian  missions  there  were  no  considerable  changes,  either 
prosperous  or  adverse. 

The  labors  of  the  mission  were  conducted  in  peace,  with  sandwich  islands. 
no  very  remarkable  results.     Attention  to  preaching  slowly  increased, 


318  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1835. 

some  instances  of  conversion  occurred,  and  during  the  year  ending  in 
June,  72  natives  were  added  to  the  churches.  The  whole  number  re- 
ceived from  the  beginning  was  now  864,  of  whom  13  had  been  excom- 
municated, and  24  were  now  under  suspension  from  church  privileges. 
The  young  princess  had  at  last  been  drawn  away  by  the  king,  her  brother, 
and  was  among  the  excommunicated.  Still  she  expressed  no  doubt  of 
the  truth  of  the  gospel,  and  there  is  some  reason  to  hope  that  she  died 
penitent. 

Schools  were  taught  by  the  members  of  the  mission  at  all  the  stations, 
and  greater  numbers  of  children  were  induced  to  attend.  Near  the 
close  of  the  year,  Hoapili  issued  an  order,  requiring  all  the  children  over 
four  years  of  age  on  Maui  to  be  sent  to  school,  and  exempting  the  teach- 
ers from  all  other  services.  The  High  School  at  Lahainaluna  had  118 
students  in  geography,  arithmetic,  trigonometry,  composition,  and  simi- 
lar studies,  and  a  small  select  class  in  the  rudiments  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage.    They  wrote  more  and  more  for  the  paper  issued  from  their  press. 

The  reinforcement  sent  out  the  previous  December  arrived  on  the 
6th  of  June.  The  labors  of  the  mission  were  gradually  extended  to  parts 
of  the  Islands  hitherto  neglected.  At  Koloa,  on  Kauai,  a  small  church 
was  formed  in  April.  Here,  at  Ewa  on  Oahu,  and  at  the  new  stations 
generally,  the  most  rapid  improvement  was  observable. 

Miss  Brown,  soon  after  her  arrival,  began  to  teach  spinning,  weav- 
ing and  knitting  at  Wailuku.  The  experiment  commenced  successfully. 
Several  of  the  chiefs  showed  great  interest  in  the  attempt,  and  some 
cotton  was  planted. 

Dr.  Chapin  embarked  for  the  United  States  in  November,  as  the 
only  means  of  preserving  Mrs.  Chapin's  life. 


1836.]  WANT   OF   FUNDS.  319 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

1S36. — Meeting  at  Hartford. — Missionaries  detained  for  want  of  funds.— Re- 
demption of^slaves.— Mahratta  mission.—Visits  to  Jalna.— Converts.— Ta- 
mul  missions. — Revivals  in  Ceylon. — Mr.  Poor  removes  to  Madura. — 
Church  formed  there. — Madras  mission  commenced. — Siam.--First  print- 
ing.—Singapore. — Chinese  printing. — Dispensary  closed. — Mission  to  Bor- 
neo.— Mission  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. — Greece. — Excitement 
against  the  Americans. — Constantinople. — Civilization  among  the  Turks. — 
Greek  Patriarch's  encyclical  letter.— Mr.  Schauffler's  visit  to  Odessa.— Pro- 
gress among  the  Armenians. — Asia  Minor. — Ecclesiastical  opposition. — 
Kasim  arrested  for  becoming  a  Christian,  and  released. — Maronite  perse- 
cution subdued.— Arabic  type.— Mr.  Smith's  shipwreck— Death  of  Mrs. 
Smith. — Progress  among  the  Nestorians. — Mr.  Merrick  visits  Ispahan. — 
Africa. — Church  formed  at  Cape  Palmas. — Missions  commenced  among  the 
Zulus. — Indian  missions. — School  at  Brainerd  closed. — Revivals  at  Dwight 
and  Fairfield. — Creek  missions  terminated. — Osage  stations  abandoned. — 
Oregon  missions  commenced. — Ojibwa  printing. — Sandwich  Islands. — 
Q,uiet  progress. — Depopulation. — Large  reinforcement. — Teachers. 

The  annual  meeting  was  holden  at  Hartford,  Ct.,  on  the  14th,  15th 
and  16th  of  September.  There  were  present,  34  corporate  and  119 
honorary  members.  An  assistant  Recording  Secretary  being  needed, 
Charles  Stoddard,  Esq.  was  chosen.  Since  the  last  meeting,  20  male 
and  23  female  missionaries  and  assistants  had  been  sent  out ;  and  there 
were  64  under  appointment,  waiting  to  embark  for  stations  where  their 
labors  were  greatly  needed.  The  receipts,  for  the  year  ending  July  31, 
had  been  about  $176,000,  and  the  expenditures  more  than  $210,000 ; 
leaving  the  Board  about  $39,000  in  debt.*  This  state  of  things  was 
not  wholly  unforeseen.  For  several  years,  the  difficulty,  in  all  depart- 
ments of  Christian  effort,  had  been  to  find  men.  Every  demand  for 
funds  had  been  met ;  not  without  hesitation  and  scrutiny,  perhaps,  but 
as  soon  as  it  was  made  evident  that  the  funds  were  needed,  and  would 
be  judiciously  expended.  The  Board,  therefore,  had  called  for  men, 
and  men  were  offering  themselves  in  unprecedented  numbers.  Increasing 
funds  were  needed,  solicited  and  given  ;  but  not  in  proportion  to  the 
increasing  need  of  them.  Hence  the  condition  of  the  treasury.  In 
view  of  it,  the  Committee  had  voted,  the  week  before  the  meeting,  to 
send  a  circular  to  the  appointed  missionaries,  instructing  them  to  sus- 
pend preparations  for  their  departure  till  further  notice.  At  this  meet- 
ing, it  was  felt  that  a  crisis  had  come  ;  that  the  funds  and  operations  of 
the  Board  must  be  greatly  and  permanently  increased ;  or  that  a  check 
must  be  given  to  the  missionary  spirit,  which  should  render  offers  of 

*  The  Board  had  also  expended  for  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  $37,900, 
received  from  them  j  making  its  whole  disbursements  a  little  over  $248,000. 


320  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

service  less  frequent,  and  forbid  the  Committee  and  the  Missions  to 
think  of  occupying  the  extensive  fields  of  useful  effort  which  were  open- 
ing before  them.  The  feeling  appeared  to  be  deep,  decided  and  uni- 
versal, that  the  work  must  be  made  to  advance,  and  that  funds  should 
be  supplied.  Resolutions  were  adopted  encouraging  the  Committee  to 
send  out  all  the  missionaries  under  appointment ;  and  the  indications 
were  such  at  this  meeting  and  in  various  parts  of  the  country  to  which 
the  tidings  of  it  came,  that  on  the  18th  of  the  next  month,  the  Coraimit- 
tee  resolved  to  do  it. 

Redemption  of  Slaves.  Early  lu  thc  ycar,  a  report  w^as  in  circulation  that  the 
Board  had  purchased  slaves,  and  now  held  them  in  Slavery.  Having 
learned  the  origin  of  the  repoi't,  the  Committee  adopted  the  following 
preamble  and  resolution,  February  23  : 

"  Whereas,  in  former  years,  some  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Board  among 
the  southwestern  Indians  have,  in  a  few  instances,  in  order  to  obtain  neces- 
sary labor  for  the  secular  concerns  of  their  stations,  contracted  with  persons 
holding  slaves,  to  pay  the  holders  the  estimated  value  of  the  services  of  the 
persons;  but  which  agreement  was,  in  each  case,  as  the  Committee  under- 
stand, in  compliance  with  the  earnest  wishes  of  the  slave,  previously  ascer- 
tained, to  labor  for  the  station  at  a  stipulated  price,  until  the  wages  should 
amount  to  the  sum  paid  for  the  ransom,  and  upon  the  full  understanding  and 
agreement  that  at  the  expiration  of  the  time,  he  or  she  should  be  released 
from  all  servitude  to  any  person  whomsoever ;  and  which  contracts  have  all 
been  completed,  except  in  two  or  three  cases,  where  it  is  not  known  that  the 
term  of  service  has  yet  expired :  But  as  it  has  appeared  to  the  Committee 
that  in  consequence  of  these  transactions,  the  Board  or  its  missionaries  have 
been  regarded  by  some  of  the  friends  of  missions  as  holding  slaves  :  There- 
fore, 

"  Resolved,  that  the  missionaries  among  the  southwestern  Indians  be  in- 
structed to  enter  into  no  more  such  contracts;  and  that,  if 'there  be  any  per- 
sons who  have  not  yet  completed  the  term  of  service  specified  in  such  contracts, 
all  claims  to  their  further  services  be  relinquished." 

The  amount  of  the  matter  is,  that  in  a  few  cases,  in  which  it  was 
for  the  advantage  of  all  parties,  the  missions,  at  the  request  of  the  slaves 
and  with  the  approbation  of  the  masters,  lent  the  slaves  money  to  pur- 
chase their  freedom ;  taking  their  promise  to  repay  it  by  laboring  a 
certain  length  of  time  for  the  mission  ;  and  when  it  was  found  that  this 
could  not  be  done  without  incurring  the  reputation  of  slaveholding,  the 
practice  was  discontinued.  It  is  believed  that  every  such  contract, — 
and  it  is  known  that  nearly  every  one, — was  the  means,  not  only  of 
releasing  a  man  or  woman  from  slavery,  but  of  rescuing  an  immortal 
soul  from  the  bondage  of  Satan,  and  from  the  pains  of  eternal  death. 
Mahratta  Missions.  Mr.  Alleu,  of  thc  missiou  at  Ahmcdnuggur,  spent  a 
great  part  of  the  year  in  itinerating.  He  visited  some  parts  of  the 
Mahratta  country  where  no  missionary  had  been  before.  At  Jalna,  in 
the  dominions  of  the  Nizam  of  Hydrabad,  he  drew  up  regulations  for  a 
society  of  native  Christians,  by  which  they  bound  themselves  to  hold 
two  religious  services  every  week,  to  provide  for  the  education  of 
members  and  their  children  unable  to  read,  and  to  practise  Christian 


1836.]  CEYLON   MISSION.      MADURA   MISSION.  321 

kindness  towards  each  other  in  sickness  and  affliction.  On  the  23d  of 
April,  he  baptized  three  Hindoos,  two  men  and  a  woman,  at  Ahmed- 
nuggur.  The  mission  there  regarded  the  year  as  one  of  prosperity,  es- 
pecially in  the  success  of  the  boarding  school.  Mr.  Stone  returned 
from  Ceylon  to  Bombay  in  May,  with  health  improved.  Mr.  Graves 
and  family  resided  at  Malcolm  Peth,  the  only  station  where  the  climate 
would  not  prove  fatal  to  him.  He  was  employed  in  translating  the 
Scriptures,  and  preaching  to  a  few  Mahrattas  and  Chinese  convicts. 
Mrs.  Graves  had  a  promising  school  of  20  or  30  children.  Mr.  Stone 
and  Mr.  Munger,  near  the  close  of  the  year,  visited  Jalna,  to  ascertain 
whether  a  station  could  be  formed  there.  Their  report  was  favorable, 
and  it  was  resolved  that  Mr.  Munger  should  make  the  attempt. 

The  churches  connected  with  the  Ceylon  mission  re-  ceyion  Mission. 
ceived  39  members  this  year.  A  large  proportion  of  these  were  receiv- 
ed at  Batticotta,  where  Dr.  Ward  wrote  on  the  last  day  of  June,  15  or 
20  appeared  to  have  become  pious  within  the  last  three  months.  In 
September,  there  was  a  season  of  special  interest  in  the  girls'  school  at 
Oodooville.  It  commenced  in  a  prayer  meeting,  which  some  of  the 
girls  had  maintained  for  many  months.  One  evening,  their  desires  for 
the  conversion  of  others  were  so  strong,  that  they  could  not  rest  till 
they  had  conversed  with  some  of  their  impenitent  schoolmates.  Sev- 
eral instances  of  conversion  followed.  The  155  free  schools,  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  contained  6,272  pupils,  of  whom  994  were  girls. 
The  number  of  pupils  educated  in  the  tree  schools  of  the  mission,  from 
its  commencement  to  the  close  of  this  year,  was  estimated  at  15,500.  The 
Seminary  at  Batticotta,  now  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Hoisington,  contain- 
ed 166  students.  In  October,  a  class  of  46  was  admitted,  who  were 
selected  from  130  candidates.  Of  the  rejected  applicants,  at  least  50 
were  as  well  fitted  as  the  class  admitted  the  year  before ;  showing  that 
the  desire  for  admission  was  raising  the  standard  of  education  in  the 
district.  Of  the  graduates,  if  we  may  use  the  term,  57  were  in  the 
employment  of  the  American  missions,  ten  were  employed  by  other 
missions,  and  22  were  in  the  service  of  government.  The  most  afflic- 
tive event  of  the  year,  was  the  death  of  Nicholas  Permander,  one  of  the 
native  preachers,  and  one  of  the  earliest  assistants  of  the  mission. 

Mr.  Poor,  having  resigned  the  charge  of  the  Seminary  m^ui,,, a  Mission. 
at  Batticotta  at  the  commencement  of  the  year,  removed  in  March  to 
Madura.  He  ardently  desired  to  be  engaged  more  directly  in  preach- 
ing the  gospel ;  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  his  preaching 
and  conversation  excited  no  little  attention  and  hopeful  inquiry,  espe- 
cially among  intelligent  and  influential  men.  On  the  30th  of  October,  a 
church  was  organized,  with  nine  native  members,  all  from  Jaffna.  Of 
13  native  helpers,  eight  had  been  educated  at  Batticotta.  At  the  close 
oftheyear,  37  schools  had  been  opened,  of  which  30  were  in  opera- 
tion ;  nine  in  Madura  and  the  others  in  the  neighboring  villages.  They 
contained  1 149  boys  and  65  girls. 

The  Rev.  Messrs.  Henry  Cherry,  Edward    Cope,  Nathaniel    M. 

41 


322  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

Crane,  Clarendon  F.  Muzzy,  William  Tracy,  and  F.  D.  W.  Ward, 
Dr.  John  Steele,  with  their  wives,  embarked  at  Boston  on  the 
23d  of  November,  for  Madras.  It  was  expected  that  all,  or 
nearly  all,  would  join  the  mission  at  Madura.  Mr.  Hall,  unable  to  bear 
the  climate  in  any  part  of  India,  was  compelled  to  return  about  the  end 
of  the  year,  and  arrived  at  New  York  in  April,  1837. 
New  Mi«io>,  at  Ma.  Mr.  Wluslow  and  Mr.  Dwight,  who  sailed  from  Phil- 
''"'•  adelphia  in   November,  1835,   arrived   at  Madras  on  the 

21st  of  March.  As  the  fruit  of  their  labors  and  those  of  the  Presbyterian 
missionaries  who  sailed  with  them,  fourteen  of  the  officers  and  crew  of 
the  vessel  had  been  hopefully  converted  on  the  voyage.  Mr.  Dwight 
joined  the  mission  at  Madura  in  April,  and  in  November  commenced  a 
new  station  at  Dindegul,  some  distance  farther  north.  Mr.  Winslow 
proceeded  to  Jaifna.  Here,  according  to  instructions  from  the  Com- 
mittee, a  consultation  was  held,  and  Mr.  Winslow  and  Dr.  Scudder 
were  designated  to  commence  a  mission  at  Madras.  This  was  designed 
principally  as  a  printing  and  publishing  establishment,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  Tamul  race.  Yet  other  labors  were  needed.  The  popula- 
tion of  Madras  and  its  suburbs  was  estimated  at  416,000,  and  the  few 
missionaries  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  were  anxious  that  the 
brethren  should  enter  the  field,  so  that  some  of  them  might  be  at  libeity 
to  occupy  other  stations.  Mr.  Winslow  removed  to  Madras  in  August, 
and  Dr.  Scudder  in  September. 

Mission  10  China.  Thc  missiouarlcs  to  China  were  still  shut  out  from  in- 

tercourse with  the  people.  Proclamations  were  issued,  reviving  the  old 
law  against  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  was  supposed  to  apply  to  the 
mission.  Some  Romish  priests,  even  in  the  interior  provinces,  were 
thus  expelled  from  the  country.  The  distribution  of  books  was  almost 
wholly  suspended.  The  Chinese  printing  was  all  transferred  to  Singa- 
pore. Public  worship  in  China  was  given  up  for  the  present.  Still 
time  was  usefully  employed  in  study,  in  English  printing  at  Macao,  and 
in  preparing  Chinese  works,  to  be  printed  at  Singapore. 

Dr.  Parker's  Eye  Infirmary,  in  September,  had  received  1912  pa- 
tients, and  had  cost  $1200,  all  of  which  had  been  contributed  by  resi- 
dent foreigners.  It  was  fast  rising  in  the  esteem  of  the  Chinese,  and 
for  the  present  procured  nearly  all  the  opportunities  enjoyed,  for  making 
known  rehgious  truth.  The  brethren,  with  a  few  Christian  merchants 
at  Canton,  planned  a  missionary  voyage  along  the  coast  and  among 
the  Islands  of  Eastern  and  Southeastern  Asia,  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
tributing books  and  tracts,  and  discovering  openings  for  Christian  effort. 
The  Himmeleh  was  chartered  for  the  voyage,  and  sailed,  with  Mr. 
Stevens  on  board,  on  the  3d  of  December  lor  Singapore,  where  she  ar- 
rived on  the  15th.  On  landing,  Mr.  Stevens  was  immediately  seized 
with  a  fever,  which  proved  fatal  in  about  three  weeks.  His  loss  was 
deeply  felt. 

Mission  10  siam.  At  Bangk'ok,  at  thc  cnd  of  this  year,  about  20,000 

volumes  had  been  distributed  among  the  Chinese,  and  Mr.  Johnson  had 


1836.]  SINGAPORE   MISSION.  323 

established  a  school  for  Chinese  children,  after  his  return  from  Chanta- 
boon,  in  JNIay.  Only  Christian  books  were  used  in  the  school;  and  on 
the  Sabbath,  the  parents  and  others  were  invited  to  come  together  and 
hear  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 

On  the  24th,  the  mission  published  a  Siamese  tract  of  eight  pages, 
containing  a  summary  of  the  law  of  God  and  the  gospel,  a  short  prayer 
and  three  hymns.  This  was  supposed  to  be  the  first  printing  ever  done 
in  Siam.  About  4000  volumes,  from  the  press  at  Singapore,  distributed 
by  different  missionaries,  constituted  the  whole  printed  literature  of  the 
nation.  But  there  was  a  prospect  of  its  increase.  The  chief  priest 
wished  to  procure  a  complete  printing  establishment,  with  Roman  type, 
for  printing  the  Pali,  the  sacred  language  of  the  Buddhists,  in  the  Roman 
character,  on  a  plan  invented  by  himself. 

Dr.  Bradley's  medical  services  were  eagerly  sought.  He  was  often 
called  to  visit  members  of  the  royal  family,  and  other  distinguished  char- 
acters ;  but  preferred  laboring  among  the  poor,  as  more  likely  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  of  Christ.  His  dispensary  was  a  floating  building, 
raised  above  the  water  by  a  raft  of  bamboos,  of  the  same  size  as  itself, 
and  anchored  by  four  upright  posts,  at  the  corners.  Here  3800  patients, 
of  all  classes,  and  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  had  received  medical 
aid.  The  dispensary  was  opened  daily  with  prayer  and  religious  in- 
struction in  the  Siamese  language ;  and  on  the  Sabbath,  Mr.  Robinson 
preached  in  Siamese  to  one  or  two  hundred  hearers. 

At  Singapore^,  in  February,  the  printing  house  was  Singapore  Mis.ion. 
completed,  and  twelve  printers  were  at  work.  The  usual  force  em- 
ployed during  the  year,  was  a  copyist,  eleven  block-cutters,  and  eight 
or  ten  printers.  The  copyist  wrote  out,  in  a  fair  hand,  the  work  to  be 
printed.  This  was  then  transferred  to  wooden  blocks,  much  as  prints 
are  transferred  to  ornamental  boxes,  tables,  and  the  like,  in  this  coun- 
try. The  block-cutters  then  cut  away  the  parts  not  covered  by  the 
writing,  so  as  to  leave  the  characters  standing  out  in  relief.  The  printer 
then  laid  a  heap  of  paper  and  two  blocks,  each  containing  a  page,  before 
liim  on  a  table,  spread  the  ink  over  the  blocks  with  a  brush,  took  a 
sheet  of  paper  from  the  heap,  spread  it  carefully  over  the  blocks  and 
pressed  it  down  gently,  and  the  work  was  done.  An  expert  workman 
would  thus  print  2000  sheets  in  a  day. 

The  school  commenced  in  July  1S35  was  continued,  having  about 
12  boys.  Another,  for  Canton  Chinese  boys,  was  opened  in  July  of  this 
year,  with  about  the  same  number  of  pupils. 

The  dispensary  was  closed  in  July.  The  missionaries  had  all  be- 
come convinced  that  it  cost  more  time  and  labor  than  its  religious  results 
would  justify  them  in  expending  upon  it.  Worship  on  the  Sabbath  was 
then  transferred  to  the  printing  house,  where  the  congregation,  of  about 
25,  consisted  mostly  of  persons  in  the  employment  of  the  mission.  In 
May,  Leang  Afa  attempted  preaching  in  the  streets,  but  proved  a  dull 
preacher  ;  showing  that  genius,  learning  and  piety  are  not  all  the  quali- 
fications that  a  preacher  needs. 


324  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

The  Rev.  Matthew  B.  Hope,  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Travelli,  and  Dr.  Ste- 
phen Tracy,  with  their  wives,  embarked  at  Boston,  July  1,  to  reinforce 
this  mission.  They  arrived  at  Singapore  on  the  17th  ol"  December.  It 
was  expected  that  Dr.  Tracy  would  ultimately  engage  in  some  other 
mission. 

Mission  to  Borneo.  The  Rcv.  Samucl  P.  Robbins,  who  sailed  with  this 
reinforcement,  and  the  Rev.  William  Arms,  were  expected  to  commence 
a  mission  on  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  ;  probably 
on  the  western  coast  of  Sumatra.  The  frequent  wars  of  the  Dutch  and 
the  unsettled  state  of  the  country  rendering  that  region  unsafe,  Mr. 
Arms,  in  June,  explored  the  western  coast  of  Borneo.  He  visited  Pon- 
tiana  and  Sambas,  saw  the  Dyaks  in  their  own  villages,  and  gained 
such  information  as  rendered  the  expediency  of  a  mission  somewhat 
doubtful.  In  November,  he  returned  to  Singapore,  to  consult  on  his 
future  course.  After  consultation,  he  sailed  again  for  Borneo  on  the 
last  of  November.  Mr.  Robbins  followed  him  in  April. 
fieror,„ed  Duich  Ou  thc  30th  of  May,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Elihu  Doty,  Ja- 

Mis=;oa.  ^Q^  Ennis,  Elbert  Nevius  and  William  Youngblood,  with 

their  wives,  and  Miss  Azuba  C.  Condit,  sister  of  Mrs.  Nevius,  teacher, 
members  and  missionaries  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  received 
their  instructions  in  New  York  as  missionaries  of  the  Board  to  some 
place  yet  to  be  selected  in  the  Indian  Archipelago.  They  embarked 
on  the  8th  of  June  for  Batavia,  where  they  arrived  on  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  year,  according  to  their  instruc- 
tions, in  the  study  of  the  Malay,  which  is  the  language  of  commerce 
throughout  those  islands,  and  in  acquiring  the  information  necessary  to 
the  judicious  selection  of  a  place  for  their  future  residence. 
Greece,  intrijnes  As  souic  of  thc    cvcuts  of  thls  ycar  in  Greece  were 

audexcitea,..v.  'bi'ought  to  pass  by  deep  laid  secret  plans  and  dark  intrigues, 
it  is  not  probable  that  the  whole  will  ever  be  fully  understood.  A  let- 
ter, purporting  to  have  been  written  at  Syra,  was  printed  in  a  pamphlet 
form  at  Paris  and  sent  to  Greece,  where  it  helped  to  raise  a  great  ex- 
citement against"  the  Americans,"  as  all  missionaries  were  now  called. 
This  was  followed  up  by  repeated  blasts  from  the  "  Gospel  Trumpet," 
a  newspaper  edited  by  Germanos,  and  zealous  for  the  Greek  Church. 
The  zeal  of  the  ignorant  and  superstitious  Vvas  inflamed  by  pretended 
miracles  and  revelations  at  Naxos.  Absurd  stories  were  circulated, 
some  of  them  by  professed  eye-witnesses,  of  attempts  to  make  the  girls 
in  the  school  at  Syra*  "  Americans,"  by  sealing  them  on  the  arm  ;  and 
how  one  of  them  refused  to  be  sealed,  and  two  horns  grew  out  of  her 
head;  and  how  they  took  a  boy  into  a  dark  room  and  catechised  him, 
and  he  saw  the  devil  there,  and  was  frightened  out  of  his  senses.  It 
was  said,  too,  that  "  the  Americans"  were  acting  hypocritically  ;  that 
they  were  endeavoring  to  make  proselytes  from  the  Greek  Church,  and 

*  Established  by  Mr.  Brewer,  but  now  belonging  to  the  Church  Missionary 
Society. 


1836.]  CONSTANTINOPLE.      THE   TURKS.  325 

to  change  the  religion  of  the  country,  while  they  professed  the  contra- 
ry. It  is  not  known,  however,  that  any  word  or  deed  of  any  missionary 
sent  out  by  the  Board,  was  ever  made  the  pretext  for  any  of  these  ac- 
cusations. By  such  means,  mobs  were  raised,  the  schools  at  Syra 
were  broken  up,  but  soon  went  on  upon  a  smaller  scale,  and  missionary 
operations  were  interrupted  by  violence  in  other  parts  of  Greece.  The 
missions  of  the  Board,  however,  suffered  nothing  from  actual  violence, 
except  the  breaking  of  some  of  Mr.  Riggs'  windows  by  individuals, 
without  any  public  commotion.  Some  leading  Greek  publications  as- 
cribed these  tumults  to  the  Greek  clergy,  and  were  very  severe  upon 
them  for  opposing  the  etforts  of"  the  Americans"  to  promote  education. 
The  local  authorities  were  generally  prompt  in  putting  down  riots  ;  and 
towards  the  close  of  the  year,  Germanos  was  arrested  for  exciting 
them,  and  confined  in  a  distant  monastery.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  Mr. 
King  disposed  of  more  than  48,000  copies  of  Testaments,  school  books 
and  tracts  in  modem  Greek,  mostly  for  the  use  of  schools,  during  the 
year,  and  Mr.  Riggs  nearly  2000  more  ;  the  schools  were  continued 
without  interruption,  and  Mr.  King's  Greek  congregation  on  the  Sab- 
bath slowly  increased.  • 

The  Rev.  Nathan  Benjamin,  with   his  wife,    sailed   from  Boston 
in  July,  and  joined  the  mission  at  Argos  on  the  15th  of  November. 

Civilization  was  advancing  rapidly  among  the  Turks,  consi^minopie.  The 
The  Lancasterlan  schools  in  the  barracks  at  Dolma  Baktche  '"'"' 
and  Scutari  were  carried  on  in  splendid  style,  and  with  remarkable  suc- 
cess. The  missionaries  were  invited  to  attend  a  public  examination, 
and  Azira  Bey  publicly  declared  that  the  Turks  were  indebted  to  them 
for  every  thing  of  the  kind.  Some  of  the  Turks  hoped  that  such  schools 
would  soon  become  common  throughout  the  empire.  Other  improvements 
were  introduced.  Two  steamers  ran  every  week  to  Smyrna,  and  one 
to  Treblzond,  and  one  to  Galatz  on  the  Danube  every  fortnight;  and  a 
stage  coach,  or  carriage  of  some  sort,  ran  from  Scutari  about  60  miles 
eastward  to  Nlcoraedla.  The  Frank  system,  too,  of  guarding  against  the 
plague  by  quarantine,  was  extensively  adopted.  They  were  just  be- 
coming acquainted  with  America,  "  the  new  world,"  which  was  thought 
a  wonderful  place.  An  American  naval  architect  had  just  built 
a  splendid  frigate,  which  was  now  the  flag  ship  of  the  Turkish  admiral. 
Jews  cried  "  American  cotton"  for  sale.  One  cried  cakes,  "  made  with 
"  American  butter ;"  another,  at  a  festival,  cried  "  good  American 
water ;"  and  another,  showing  an  ostrich,  called  it  an  "  American  bird." 

The  Greek  Patriarch  at  Constantinople  denounced  the  The  orreK,.  fccIci. 
schools  in  his  encyclical  letter;  and  ecclesiastical  commit-"""""^""""""*' 
tees  were  appointed  in  every  city  under  his  jurisdiction,  to  regulate  the 
clergy  and  superintend  schools.  At  Constantinople,  where  there  were 
thousands  who  were  Greeks  by  descent,  but  not  by  religion,  the  mission 
schools  suffered  less  from  this  movement  than  in  some  other  places.  It 
was  observed  with  some  surprise,  that  the  preaching  in  the  Greek 
churches  this  winter  was  unusually  evangelical. 


326  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

Mr.schr,v,mer'..,Mcce,..  At  thc  commeiicement  of  the  year,  Mr.  Schaiiffler  had 
a  German  congregation  of  about  20,  of  whom  four  were  esteemed  re- 
cent converts — truly  pious.  One  of  them  was  of  Jewish  descent.  In 
April  he  visited  his  parents  and  relatives  at  Odessa,  where  he  remained 
till  October.  The  Russian  government  granted  him  permission  to  preach 
to  Protestants,  but  not,  as  he  had  hoped  and  requested,  to  Jews.  His 
labors  were  the  means  of  an  interesting  revival  of  religion  among  the 
Protestants  in  that  vicinity,  which  continued  into  the  next  year. 
The  Armenians.  The  iHOst  intercstiug  work  was  among  the  Armenians ; 

but  from  the  mode  in  which  it  was  carried  on,  mostly  by  the  Armeni- 
ans themselves,  in  a  great  degree  by  private  conversation,  at  social 
visits  of  friends  and  relations,  by  priests  and  laymen  enlightened  in  va- 
rious degrees,  its  progress  cannot  be  definitely  stated.  Some  said  that 
the  "  evangelical  party,"  or  "  evangelical  infidels,"  as  they  were  some- 
times called,  amounted  to  800,  which  was  doubtless  an  enormous  exao-- 
geration.  Five  or  six  of  the  most  influential  of  the  priests  in  the  capital 
were  known  to  be  decidedly  evangelical,  and  others  were  heard  of  in 
distant  cities  and  villages.  Except  when  interrupted  by  the  plague, 
the  schools  flourished,  and  Hohannes,  already  high,  was  still  rising  in 
the  esteem  of  his  countrymen. 

Mission,  in  Asia  Minor.  At  all  thc  stations,  Smyrna,  Scio,  Broosa  and  Trebi- 
zond,  the  missions  found  themselves  hedged  in  by  ecclesiastical  oppo- 
sition. The  Greek  Patriarch's  encyclical  letter  cut  them  oflT,  almost 
wholly,  from  intercourse  with  that  people,  and  they  met  some  opposition 
from  Armenian  clergy,  especially  at  Broosa.  At  Smyrna,  the  Greek 
ecclesiastical  committee  succeeded  in  breaking  up  eight  schools,  con- 
taining 600  or  800  children,  and  in  compelling  some  of  the  teachers 
and  pupils  of  the  mission  to  enter  their  service  as  teachers  ;  for  such  an 
impulse  had  been  given  to  the  cause  of  education,  that  this  committee 
was  compelled  to  carry  it  on.  One  of  the  female  teachers  pressed  into 
their  service  was  esteemed  truly  pious.  The  committee  also  engao-ed 
in  the  preparation  of  school  books  ;  and  it  was  manifest  that  their  own 
operations  must,  in  a  considerable  degree,  be  borne  along  by  the  current 
which  the  mission  had  set  in  motion.  Mr.  Adger  opened  a  school  for 
Armenian  girls;  but  an  Armenian,  hostile  to  the  mission,  appealed  to 
the  national  pride  of  his  countrymen,  saying  that  it  was  a  disgrace  to  be 
thus  dependent  on  the  charity  of  foreigners  ;  and  the  Armenians  took  the 
school  into  their  own  hands,  and  refunded  what  had  been  expended 
on  it.  The  school  for  Greek  boys  remained,  and  the  printing  depart- 
ment was  doing  well.  The  mission  at  Broosa  opened  a  school  at  Phil- 
lad  ar,  but  both  this  and  that  at  Demir  Tash  were  broken  up  by  ecclesi- 
astical interference. — Mr.  Jackson  and  his  wife  arived  at  Trebizond  in 
August. 

Syria    Kasim,  Truth  appcBrcd  to  be  making  progress  slowly  at  and 

""■'"'""■  around  Beirut.     A  small  number,  mostly  Druzes,  were  seri- 

ously thoughtful,  and  three  or  four  wished  to  unite  with  the  church. 
Kasim,  the  only  Druze  who  continued  his  attendance  on  the  Arabic 


v,^i;-iP^^ 


%  -S^iJiiiretch  BouTnolf^-i^ 


4  ^  rj 


And  t/ie 

BOSPHOFKUS 

Mies 


v*^        — ^  ) 


V, 


-J 


/  ,(h7  /ii<!  StlJinirUi*-  ri 


328  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

preaching  when  the  others  fell  off  at  the  close  of  the  last  year,  was  ar- 
rested as  an  apostate  from  Muhammedanism,  imprisoned,  and  threat- 
ened with  death.  He  steadily  declared  himself  a  Christian,  and  gave 
directions  for  the  disposal  of  his  little  property  after  his  execution.  By 
the  interference  of  Soleiman  Pasha,  at  the  request  of  the  American  con- 
sul, he  was  released,  after  a  confinement  of  seventeen  days.  Mr.  Thom- 
son spent  the  summer  at  Brumannah,  on  Mount  Lebanon.  The  Maro- 
nite  Emirs  of  the  village,  at  the  command  of  their  Patriarch,  forbade 
all  intercourse  with  him  ;  and  even  the  food  which  his  servant  had 
bought  was  taken  away  by  force.  The  consul  again  applied  to  the 
Egyptian  authorities,  and  the  Emirs  were  compelled  to  desist  from  their 
annoyances.  In  July,  the  Greek  Patriarch's  encyclical  letter  was  read 
by  the  Greek  bishop  at  Beirut.  The  bishop  expressed  great  gratitude 
to  the  mission  for  establishing  schools  and  waking  them  up  to  the  sub- 
ject; but  now,  he  said,  they  must  take  the  work  into  their  own  hands. 
He  would  establish  schools,  and  his  people  must  support  them  and  send 
their  children.  The  missionaries  told  their  Greek  neighbors  that  this 
Avould  be  all  right,  and  quite  agreeable  to  them,  if  done  thoroughly  and 
in  good  faith.  The  mission  schools  were  nearly  all  broken  up  for  a 
time ;  but  before  the  end  of  the  year,  they  began  to  revive. 

As  more  Arabic  type  were  needed,  and  as  none  had  ever  been  made 
conforming  exactly  to  the  Arabic  idea  of  perfect  elegance,  it  was  deci- 
ded that  Mr.  Smith  should  visit  Smyrna,  to  make  arrangements  for  their 
manufacture  at  the  foundry  of  the  mission.  The  health  of  Mrs.  Smith, 
too,  required  a  voyage  at  sea.  They  embarked  in  June.  The  vessel 
was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Caramania,  and  they  barely  escaped  with 
their  lives  to  a  desert  shore,  where  they  suffered  much  belbre  they 
could  pursue  their  voyage.  These  hardships  hastened  the  departure  of 
Mrs.  Smith  for  a  better  world.  She  died  at  Smyrna  near  the  close  of 
September. 

Paidsiine.  Mr.  Lanncau  arrived  at  Jerusalem  early  in  May.     Lit- 

tle could  be  done  during  the  year.  The  school  for  Muhammedan  girls 
continued.  Some  encouraging  attempts  to  establish  schools  in  the  vi- 
cinity were  defeated  by  ecclesiastical  opposition. 

Cyprus.  The  mission  in  Cyprus  made  steady  progress.     The 

archbishop  of  that  island  is  not  subject  to  the  Patriarch,  and  therefore 
was  not  compelled  to  obey  the  encyclical  letter.  For  a  time,  the  gen- 
eral movement  in  the  Greek  Church  against  the  missions  appeared  to 
fill  him  and  his  clergy  with  suspicion  ;  but  a  visit  and  explanations  from 
Mr.  Pease,  the  testimony  of  Luke  Zenocrates,  who  accompanied  him, 
and  especially  the  fact  that  Themistocles,  whose  character  was  well 
and  favorably  known,  had  actually  opened  a  school  in  connection  with 
the  mission,  dispelled  all  apprehensions ;  and  the  mission,  and  especially 
the  school  under  Themistocles,  received  the  decided  approbation  of  the 
archbishop  and  of  the  most  influential  Greeks. — The  Rev.  Daniel  Ladd 
and  his  wife,  who  embarked  at  Boston  July  16,  joined  this  mission  on 
the  28th  of  October. 


1836.] 


MISSION   TO   THE   NESTOKIANS. 


329 


The  mission  to  the  Nestorians  enjoyed  uninterrupted  Ncoruni. 

prosperity.  The  Nestorian  clergy  considered  their  nation  as  having 
'"■  wandered  far  from  the  right  way,"  and  prized  the  mission  and  its 
instructions  as  aids  in  returning  to  it.  The  school,  or  teachers'  seminary, 
was  opened  on  the  18th  of  January.  In  May,  it  had  40  scholars,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  year,  44.  There  were  also  three  free  schools,  contain- 
ing 93  pupils,  of  whom  eight  were  females.  Several  of  the  clergy  re- 
sided with  the  mission,  and  conducted  worship  once  on  each  Sabbath 
in  their  own  language.  At  this  service,  a  portion  of  Scripture  was 
read,  which  they  had  previously  studied  with  Mr.  Perkins,  and  its 
meaning  was  explained  and  enforced.  The  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  the  language  of  the  people  was   commenced  on  the   15th  of  Feb- 


Nestorian  Bishop. 


Nestorian  Woman  and  Child. 


Persian  Lady. 


ruary.  Dr.  Grant  was  overwhelmed  with  applicants  for  medical  ser- 
vices. Several  successful  operations  for  blindness  from  cataract,  which 
had  before  been  thought  incurable,  spread  his  fame  far  and  wide. —In 
October,  a  brother  and  an  uncle  of  the  King  of  Persia  visited  the  mission 
and  became  acquainted  with  the  school,  and  the  next  day,  unsolicited, 
sent  a  (irman,  commending  the  mission,  and  commanding  the  governor 
to  protect  it  from  all  evil. 

Mr.  Merrick  left  Tabriz  in  June,  in  company  with  m  .^io..  lo  Pmu. 
Messrs.  Hoernle  and  Schneider,  of  the  Basle  Missionary  Society,  on  his 
exploring  mission  among  the  Muhammedans  of  Persia.  They  visited 
Teheran,  and  then  Ispahan,  where  a  mob  was  excited  by  the  report  that 
Franks  had  come  to  attack  their  religion.     The  governor  dispersed  the 

42 


330 


HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD. 


[1836. 


Ispahan. 

mob,  and  placed  a  guard  of  30  soldiers  around  their  dwelling.  The 
Germans  soon  returned  to  Tabriz,  and  Mr.  Merrick  proceeded  to  Shiraz, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

Cape  Paimas.  At  Fair  Hopc,  (Cape  Palmas,)   a  school-house  was 

built,  a  boarding  school  maintained  with  good  prospects  of  success,  and 
four  day  schools  were  established  in  the  vicinity  under  colored  teachers  ; 
all  the  schools  containing  about  100  pupils.  Mr.  Wilson  wrote,  August 
24,  that  a  church  had  lately  been  organized,  with  six  members,  some 
of  whom  were  employed  as  teachers.  Several  journeys  were  made  into 
the  interior,  by  which  the  country  was  found  more  favorable  to  mission- 
ary operations  than  had  been  supposed.  The  Rev.  David  White  and 
his  wife,  and  Mr.  Benjamin  Van  Rensselaer  James,  a  colored  printer, 
embarked  at  Baltimore,  October  31,  with  a  press  and  types,  and  arrived 
at  Cape  Palmas  on  the  25th  of  December. 

Zulu  Missions.  In  southeastern  Africa,  the  missions  to  the  Zulus  were 

commenced.  Mr.  Lindley  and  Mr.  Venable  left  Griqua  Town  on  the 
22d  of  January,  and  arrived  at  Mosika  in  May.  Here,  near  the  ridge 
which  divides  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  from  those  of  the  Indian 
Ocean,  in  a  fertile  valley  about  15  miles  across,  lived  the  savage  chief, 
whom  the  French  missionaries  called  "  the  terrible  Moselekatsi."  Two 
of  them  had  attempted  a  mission  here  in  1831,  when  it  was  occupied 
by  the  Baharootsi ;  but  the  mission  was  broken  up  when  Moselekatsi 
drove  them  away  and  took  possession  of  the  valley.  The  chief  seemed 
pleased  with  the  arrival  of  the  mission,  and  appointed  them  a  resi- 
dence. 

Dr.  Wilson  arrived  by  way  of  Kuruman  with  the  other  members  of 


1836.]  INDIAN   MISSIONS.  331 

the  mission,  and  in  June  they  commenced  their  residence  at  IMosika. 
The  mud  floors  of  their  huts  were  not  sufficiently  dried,  and  nearly  all 
of  them  were  seized  with  fevers,  which  proved  fatal  to  Mrs.  Wilson  on 
the  18th  of  September. 

Dingaan  gave  the  brethren  of  the  maritime  mission  leave  to  settle 
in  his  country,  but  proposed  that  they  should  reside  at  Natal,  till  he 
could  see  the  effect  of  their  school.  They  returned  to  Port  Elizabeth 
for  their  families  in  February.  On  the  24th  of  that  month,  Mrs.  Grout 
was  removed  by  consumption  to  a  better  world.  The  survivors,  after  a 
journey  of  two  months,  arrived  at  Port  Natal  on  the  21st  of  May. 
Here  a  station  was  commenced  and  a  school  was  opened,  which  flour- 
ished under  the  care  of  Mrs.  Adams.  In  June,  Dingaan  gave  permission 
to  establish  a  station  in  the  interior,  and  said  that  he  himself  would 
learn  to  read.  INIr.  Champion  accordingly  removed  to  Ginani,  Septem- 
ber 26,  where  he  commenced  a  school  with  seven  boys  and  four  girls, 
whom  Dingaan,  the  despot  of  the  whole  people,  had  sent  to  be  instructed. 
The  mission  to  the  Cherokees  struggled,  with  some  sue-  cherokees. 

cess,  against  the  current  of  adverse  influences,  which,  on  the  whole,  ap- 
peared to  be  carrying  the  nation  backward.  In  May,  eight  were  added 
to  the  church  in  Carmel,  and  four  at  Brainerd.  Some  were  admitted  at 
other  stations.  The  greater  part  of  the  Cherokees  having  removed  from 
the  vicinity  of  Carmel,  the  church  was  dissolved,  57  of  its  members 
transferred  to  that  at  Brainerd,  and  the  station  closed.  Mr.  Butrick  re- 
moved to  Brainerd  in  May.  Miss  Sawyer's  school  at  Running  Waters 
was  also  closed.  The  boarding  school  at  Brainerd,  the  first  establish- 
ment of  the  Board  among  the  Indians,  was  closed  about  the  first  of 
March  ;  but,  at  the  earnest  request  of  the  people,  Mrs.  Butrick  opened 
a  school  there  in  the  summer.  The  schools  of  itinerant  teachers  seem- 
ed to  be  the  most  flourishing  part  of  the  mission-  Jesse  had  440 
scholars ;  and  a  member  of  the  Haweis  church  was  appointed  as  his 
assistant. 

The  business  of  the  old  Choctaw  mission  having  been  choctawi. 

closed,  Mr.  Kingsbury  removed  in  February  to  Eagletovvn,  the  station 
formerly  occupied  by  Mr.  W^ood,  who  commenced  a  new  station,  which 
was  called  Greenfield.  About  3000  or  4000  Choctaws  still  remained  in 
their  old  country,  poor,  defenceless,  and  surrounded  with  temptations. 
The  Board  received  $4,611,31  from  the  United  States'  government  for  its 
improvements  at  the  abandoned  stations.  In  the  new  Choctaw  coun- 
try, the  annual  report  for  this  year  mentions  13  schools,  six  of  which 
were  taught  by  natives,  and  all  containing  386  scholars ;  and  four 
churches,  with  221  members.  It  was  a  year  of  quiet,  with  but  little 
change. 

There  was  another  revival  among  the  Arkansas  Chero-  .^rkanw.. 

kees,  at  Dwight  and  Fairfield,  during  the  winter.  Eighteen  were  add- 
ed to  the  church  at  Fairfield,  during  the  year  ending  in  October.  Be- 
sides the  mission  schools,  which  were  as  prosperous  as  formerly,  the 
Cherokees  hired  Mr.  Redfield,  formerly  of  the  Osage  mission,  to  teach 


332  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMEEICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

a  school  at  Union  ;  the  expense  to  he  paid  out  of  their  annuity.  The 
station  at  the  Forks  of  the  Illinois  proving  unhealthy,  it  was  removed 
about  three  miles,  to  Park  Hill,  a  place  selected  by  Mr.  Worcester  as 
the  site  for  the  printing  office.  He  removed  in  December. 
Creek  Mission  closed.  Tvvo  books  wcrc  prlutcd  in  the  Creek  language  at  Bos- 
ton, and  one  at  the  Cherokee  press ;  and  a  number  of  the  people  had 
learned  to  read.  But  dissensions  prevailed  among  themselves;  their 
relations  to  the  United  States'  government  were  irritating ;  they  were 
distracted  and  vexed  by  the  operations  of  three  missions  of  different 
sects;  some  white  men  labored  to  increase  the  dissaffeption  ;  and  final- 
ly, several  of  the  chiefs  petitioned  to  the  United  States'  Agent  in  the 
vicinity,  to  have  all  missionaries  removed  from  their  country.  On  the 
9th  of  September,  the  agent  issued  an  order  for  that  purpose,  which  put 
an  end  to  missions  among  the  Creeks.  No  charge  of  unchristian  or 
immoral  conduct  was  brought  against  any  missionary  of  the  Board. 
Osage  Mission  By  varlous  treaties  with  the  United  States'  government, 

reduced.  nearly  all  the  Osages  had  been  removed  from  the  vicinity 

of  the  missionary  stations,  while  settlers  were  coming  in,  and  whisky 
was  reducing  the  few  remaining  Indians  to  poverty  and  wretchedness. 
It  was  not  known  that  an  adult  Osage  had  been  converted,  and  of  the 
few  that  had  been  educated,  most  seemed  disposed  to  resume  their 
savage  character.  Harmony  and  Hopefield  were  abandoned,  and  Mr. 
W.  C.  Requa,  farmer  and  catechist  at  Boudinot,  alone  remained.  Mr. 
Dodge  and  Mr.  Jones  were  employed  by  the  American  Home  Mission- 
ary Society,  as  missionaries  to  the  whites  in  that  vicinity. 
Pawnee  Mission.  Thc  missiouarlcs  to  the  Pawnees  spent  this  year  much 

like  the  preceding.  Early  in  the  spring.  Dr.  Benedict  Satterlee  and 
his  wife  and  Miss  Palmer,  affianced  to  Mr.  Allis,  left  Ithaca,  N.  Y., 
to  join  the  mission.  Mrs.  Satterlee  died  in  April,  at  Liberty,  Missouri, 
before  reaching  the  Pawnee  country.  An  elementary  book  of  74  pages 
in  the  Pawnee  language  had  been  prepared,  and  Mr.  Dunbar  visited 
New  England  in  the  autumn,  to  superintend  the  printing. 
oregnn  iMisaion  Thc  missiou   to  thc  Indiaus  on  the  Oregon  river  was 

con-.n,e..eed.  commcuced.     Dr.  Whitman  set  out  on  his  return  to  them 

early  in  the  spring,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  the  Rev.  Henry  H.  Spal- 
ding and  his  wife,  and  Mr.  William  H.  Gray.  After  a  journey,  estimat- 
ed at  2,320  miles  from  the  western  boundary  of  Missouri,  they  arrived 
at  their  destined  field  of  labor  in  September.  They  were  much  assisted 
on  their  way  by  gentlemen  belonging  to  the  American  Fur  Company 
and  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  some  of  whom  were  their  companions  du- 
ring the  whole  journey.  Some  of  the  Nez  Perces,  whom  Mr.  Parker 
had  encouraged  to  expect  missionaries  about  this  time,  travelled  several 
days  to  meet  them  and  conduct  them  to  their  country.  They  were  re- 
ceived with  kindness  and  promises  of  aid  at  the  English  settlements  at 
Forts  Wallawalla  and  Vancouver.  Mr.  Spalding  commenced  his  resi- 
dence among  the  Nez  Perces  about  the  last  of  November,  and  Dr. 
Whitman  among  the  Kayuses  on  the  10th  of  December. 


1836.] 


OJIBWAS.       SANDWICH   ISLANDS. 


333 


The  Ojibwa  mission  was  advancing  slowly.    Four  books  ojib.«.. 

in  that  language,  all  containing  343  pages,  were  printed  at  Boston,  in 
editions  of  500  copies  each.  One  of  them  was  a  book  of  hymns,  by 
Peter  Jones,  a  native  Methodist  preacher,  whose  visit  to  England  and 
marriage  there  had  excited  no  little  attention  on  both  sides  of  the  At- 
lantic. During  the  year,  there  were  seasons  of  special  seriousness,  and 
several  instances  of  conversion.  Several  of  the  Indians,  too,  began  to 
cultivate  the  soil  and  raise  cattle,  and  were  thus  comfortably  supplied 
with  food,  when  their  countrymen  were  in  want.  The  family  at  Yel- 
low Lake  was  removed  in  May,  about  50  miles  west-southwest,  to  Po- 
keguraa. 

The  history  of  the  other  missions  to  the  American  Indians  presents 
nothing  of  special  interest,  unless  it  be  a  proposal  of  the  United  States' 
government  to  the  Stockbridge  tribe,  to  remove  once  more,  and  settle 
west  of  the  Mississippi. 

During  the  year  ending  in  June,  212  were  received  sandwich  island.. 
into  the  churches  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Letters  written  later  in  the 
year  mention  other  admissions;  as  eight  at  Waialua  in  August,  and  13 
at  Kailua  in  November.  The  17  congregations  on  the  Sabbath  had  an 
average  attendance  of  14,500,  or  about  900  each.  Only  three  of  them 
had  so  few  as  300  each.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  year,  some  of 
the  stations  enjoyed  the  evident  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  especially 
the  High  School  at  Lahainaluna.     The  first  class  that  entered  this  semi- 


Serninary  at  Lahainaluna. 


nary,  23  in  number,  completed  their  studies  this  year,  and  20  or  30  of 
these  "  graduates"  were  employed  as  schoolmasters,  generally,  with 
good  effect.  The  people  erected  several  school-houses,  and  began,  for 
the  first  time,  to  assist  systematically  in  the  support  of  the  teachers  by 


334  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1836. 

their  own  voluntary  contributions,  without  the  command  of  the  chiefs. 
The  semi-monthly  religious  newspaper  had  3000  subscribers.  The  man- 
ufacture, sale,  and  use  of  ardent  spirits  was  suppressed,  except  on  Oahu, 
where  the  king  had  three  distilleries.  Several  grog-shops  at  Honolulu 
were  given  up.  One  petition  by  25  shipmasters,  and  another  by  the 
chiefs  and  more  than  3000  of  the  people,  were  presented  to  the  king, 
requesting  the  suppression  of  this  traffick,  but  in  vain. 

The  population  of  the  Islands  was  decreasing.  A  census  in  1832, 
gave  130,313  inhabitants.  Another  in  1836,  gave  108,597  ;  making 
a  decrease  of  21,734  in  four  years.  Still,  as  the  number  of  children  was 
increasing,  it  would  seem  that  the  rate  of  depopulation  must  be  less  than 
formerly. 

The  number  of  missionaries  on  these  Islands  was  already  large,  in 
proportion  to  the  population  ;  but  to  hasten  the  time  when  the  Board 
might  withdraw  its  care  from  the  Islands  and  leave  them  to  themselves, 
it  was  resolved  to  send  out  a  strong  reinforcement.  The  Rev.  Isaac 
Bliss,  Rev.  Daniel  T.  Conde,  Rev.  Mark  Ives,  Rev.  Thomas  Lafon,  who 
was  also  a  physician  ;  Dr.  Seth  L.  Andrews  ;  Mr.  Samuel  N.  Castle, 
assistant  secular  superintendent ;  Messrs.  Edward  Bailey,  Amos  S.  Cooke, 
Edward  Johnson,  Horton  0.  Knapp,  Edwin  Locke,  Charles  McDonald, 
Bethuel  Munn,  William  S.  Van  Duzee,  Abner  Wilcox,  Miss  Marcia  M. 
Smith,  and  Miss  Lucia  G.  Smith,  teachers,  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  14th 
of  December.  It  was  definitely  understood,  that  the  teachers  were  to 
remain  teachers,  and  should  not  attempt  to  make  their  way  into  the  min- 
istry. This  was  necessary,  in  order  to  secure  a  permanent  supply  of 
teachers,  and  to  keep  their  minds  from  being  drawn  away  from  their 
proper  employment. 


1837.]  FINANCIAL   DISTRESS.       REDUCTION   OF   MISSIONS.  335 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

1837. — Financial  distress. — Reduction  of  missions. — Annual  Meeting  at  New- 
arl<. — Return  of  missionaries. — Mahrattas. — New  stations.— Curtailments. 
— Subscriptions  in  India. — Tamul  missions  reduced. — Aid  from  government. 
— China. — Voyage  to  Japan. — Singapore. — Voyage  of  the  Himmeleh. — 
Netherlands  India. — Restrictions  by  the  Dutch  government. — Greece. — Mis- 
sion at  Ariopolis. — Gymnasium  closed. — Constantinople. — High  School  brok- 
en up. — School  under  Hohannes,  at  Ilass  Koy. — Conversions  at  Broosa. — 
Smyrna. — Missionary  conl'erence. — Syria. — Ecclesiastical  opposition  over- 
ruled.— Cholera  at  Jerusalem. — Preaching  commenced  there. — Schools  in 
Cyprus  transferred  to  the  Greeks. — Nestorians. — Constant  progress. — Pa- 
pal mission. — The  king's  uncle. —  West  Africa. — Death  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
White. — Schools  reduced. — Zulus. — Interior  mission  broken  up. — New  sta- 
tions.— Indian  missions. — Carmel  abandoned. — Hopefield  and  Mackinaw  re- 
linquished.—Revival  among  the  Stockbridge  and  New  York  Indians.— Death 
of  Dr.  Satterlee. — Smallpox. — Encouraging  prospects  beyond  the  Rocky- 
Mountains. — Sandwich  Islands. — Reinforcement. — Conversions  on  the  voy- 
age.—  Return  of  the  Jesuits,  riots,  and  burning  the  British  flag. — Progress 
in  education  and  civilization. — Religion  steadily  advancing. 

This  year  will  long  be  remembered,  as  a  year  of  peculiar  financial 
distress  throughout  the  commercial  world  ;  and  the  Board  felt  the  pres- 
sure severely.  A  very  large  portion  of  its  receipts,  from  the  beginning, 
had  been  from  the  large  cities,  from  men  engaged  in  commerce,  and  from 
others  closely  connected  with  them.  If  a  merchant  is  worth  $100,000, 
half  or  three  fourths  of  it  may  consist  of  debts  due  to  him  from  others, 
whose  abihty  to  pay  depends  on  the  prompt  collection  of  their  own  de- 
mands ;  so  that  the  failure  of  other  men  may  deprive  him  of  the  ability 
to  give,  or  even  to  pay  his  own  debts  when  due.  Receipts  from  the 
commercial  classes,  therefore,  must  be  subject  to  considerable  irregular- 
ity. Among  the  agricultural  population,  especially  of  the  eastern  and 
middle  states,  the  case  is  different.  The  greater  part  of  their  wealth  con- 
sists of  property  which  has  been  paid  for,  and  is  in  their  possession.  In 
comparison  with  merchants  and  manufacturers,  they  owe  but  little,  and 
but  little  is  due  to  them.  Their  income  depends  principally,  not  on  the 
collection  of  debts,  but  on  the  sale  of  the  annual  produce  of  their  farms. 
A  pressure  in  the  money  market,  if  severe  and  long  continued,  reaches 
them  at  last,  but  with  diminished  force,  and  cannot  crush  them  as  it 
crushes  merchants.  By  diminishing  the  demand  for  their  produce,  it 
renders  them  unable  to  raise  money,  except  by  painful  sacrifices  ol  prop- 
erty ;  but  before  it  does  this,  it  destroys  the  merchant's  power  to  raise 
money  at  all.  Such  was  now  the  case.  The  commercial  world  was  in 
deep  distress.  Only  the  farmers,  whom  the  pressure  had  scarcely  readied, 
were  able  to  give  as  formerly.  Within  a  few  years,  the  missions  had 
been  greatly  enlarged,  and  new  mis.sions  commenced,  which  needed  en- 


336  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

largement.  Men  were  ready  to  go  forth  ;  but  funds  were  wanting. 
The  receipts  diminished,  after  January,  at  the  rate  of  ten,  twelve,  and 
even  fourteen  thousand  dollars  a  month.  The  process  of  enlargement 
must  be  stopped.  Directions  had  already  been  sent  to  the  missions,  to 
abstain  from  enlarging  their  expenditures.  Several  missionaries,  ready 
to  go  out,  were  detained,  and  no  new  missionaries  were  appointed,  with- 
out informing  them  that  they  could  not  be  sent  till  the  treasury  should 
be  relieved.  And,  finally,  June  20,  the  Committee  were  obliged  to  de- 
cide that  the  appropriations  for  the  missions  must  be  $40,000  less  than 
had  been  intended.  This  was  apportioned  among  the  several  missions, 
and  they  were  directed,  by  a  circular  dated  June  23,  to  diminish  their 
expenditures  accordingly.  The  reduction  was  to  be  effected,  according 
to  the  discretion  of  each  mission,  by  closing  free  schools,  and  such  other 
curtailments  as  should  not  diminish  the  amount  of  preaching.  By  the 
Missionary  Herald,  and  other  religious  periodicals,  the  patrons  of  the 
Board  were  kept  faithfully  informed  of  these  circumstances  ;  and  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  financial  year,  there  was  a  great  increase  of  the 
monthly  receipts  ;  so  that,  at  the  annual  meeting,  the  receipts  had  been 
more  than  $75,000  greater  than  the  preceding  year.  The  debt,  howev- 
er, had  increased  from  less  than  $39,000  to  more  than  $44,000.  Includ- 
ing $17,500  received  from  the  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  the  Board  had 
expended  more  than  $272,000.  Sixty-three  missionaries  and  assistants 
had  been  sent  out  since  the  last  annual  meeting,  and  54  were  now  under 
appointment,  waiting  to  be  sent  out. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  on  the  l3th,  14th, 
and  15th  of  September.  There  w^ere  present,  35  corporate,  and  121 
honorary  members ;  a  greater  number  than  had  ever  before  attended. 
The  Board  approved  the  proceedings  of  the  Committee,  and  recom- 
mended that  the  reduction  of  remittances  should  continue  till  all  the 
missionaries  then  under  appointment  should  be  sent  out.  Rules  were 
adopted,  making  it  the  duty  of  the  Committee  to  affix  a  limit  to  the  an- 
nual expenses  of  each  mission,  and  requiring  each  mission  to  furnish 
seasonable  estimates  of  their  probable  necessary  expenditures.  Another 
rule  declared  the  object  of  the  mission  presses  to  be,  the  exertion  of  a 
direct  influence  on  the  natives  around  them,  and  prohibited  them  from 
printing,  at  the  expense  of  the  Board,  any  letter,  tract,  or  appeal,  with 
a  view  to  its  being  sent  to  individuals  or  communities  in  the  United 
States. 

Return  oiMusionnries.  In  tlic  beginning,  and  for  many  years,  it  was  under- 
stood by  all  parties,  that  foreign  missionaries  went  out  for  life.  It  had, 
however,  been  understood,  that  in  case  of  necessity,  a  mission  might 
authorize  one  of  its  members  to  return.  There  was  a  weak  point  in 
this  arrangement.  The  members  of  a  mission  could  not  well  deny  to  a 
brother,  a  privilege  which  they  themselves  might  soon  desire ;  espe- 
cially, as  the  remembrance  of  the  refusal  might  embitter  all  their  future 
intercourse.  Members  might,  therefore,  be  expected  to  assent  to  the  return 
of  others,  for  causes  which  they  would  think  insufficient,  if  the  case  were 


1837.]  TAMUT.   MISSIONS  REDUCED.  337 

their  own.  As  such  instances  increased,  each  missionary  would  be 
made  more  familiar  with  the  thought  of  returning,  and  less  confident 
that  he  should  remain  for  life ;  and  a  far  greater  number  of  them  would 
at  length  find  reasons  to  believe  that  they  ought  to  return.  At  least 
an  equal  evil  would  be  wrought  in  the  minds  of  candidates  for  employ- 
ment. They  would  learn  to  go  out  with  the  expectation  of  returning 
whenever  they  should  wish ;  and  many  would  volunteer,  who  other- 
wise would  never  offer  themselves.  It  was  desirable  that  such  men 
should  be  deterred  from  going  at  all.  Unequivocal  symptoms  of  such 
evils  as  these  were  showing  themselves,  both  at  home  and  in  some  of 
the  missions.  It  was  thought  necessary,  therefore,  to  republish,  in  the 
form  of  a  definite  rule,  the  original  idea  of  a  foreign  mission,  as  a  conse- 
cration to  the  work  for  life.  A  rule  was  therefore  adopted,  declaring 
that  "  It  shall  not  be  deemed  proper  for  any  missionary,  or  assistant 
missionary  to  visit  the  United  States,  except  by  invitation  or  permission 
first  received  from  the  Prudential  Committee." 

The  Rev.  N.  Adams,  of  Boston,  was  added  to  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee. 

The  extension  of  the  Mahratta  missions  was  checked  Mahraiia  Mission. 
by  want  of  funds.  The  Nizam  of  Hydrabad,  though  a  Mussulman, 
permitted  Mr.  Munger  to  establish  himself  at  Jalna,  about  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year.  Mr.  Stone  commenced  a  station,  in  January, 
at  Allibag,  south  of  Bombay,  in  the  Concan,  where  the  mission  had 
long  had  schools;  but  near  the  close  of  the  year,  it  was  thought  best  to 
relinquish  that  station,  and  he  joined  Mr.  Munger  at  Jalna. 

The  system  of  schools  was  considerably  extended,  especially  at  and 
around  Ahmednuggur,  where  a  seminary  had  been  commenced,  on  the 
same  principles  with  that  in  Ceylon ;  two  boarding  schools  for  girls 
had  been  opened,  and  17  free  schools  for  boys.  At  the  general  meet- 
ing in  October,  the  circular  of  June  23  had  been  received,  requiring  a 
reduction  of  expenses.  The  pupils  in  the  seminary  were  then  reduced 
from  60  to  50 ;  six  village  schools  were  closed ;  the  two  schools  for 
girls  were  thrown  into  one,  the  number  of  girls  reduced  to  15  ;  and 
further  reductions  must  have  been  made,  but  for  the  liberality  of  Euro- 
peans residing  there  and  at  Nassik.  The  European  ladies  agreed  to 
sustain  the  girls'  school  at  20  scholars,  till  the  treasury  should  be  re- 
lieved. The  gentlemen  subscribed  1130  rupees,  or  about  $500.  Sim- 
ilar reductions  were  commenced  at  Bombay,  where  they  were  in  like 
manner  arrested  by  subscriptions  amounting  to  1300  rupees. 

The  mission  at  Madras  was  located  in  two  suburbs  of  wadra.. 

the  city  ;  Mr.  Winslow  at  Royapoorum,  on  the  north,  and  Dr.  Scud- 
der  at  Chintadrepetta,  on  the  southwest.  In  August,  there  were  25 
schools,  with  750  scholars,  and  congregations  of  350  or  400  on  the 
Sabbath.  So  many  had  been  formed  with  the  expectation  of  increased 
remittances  from  the  Board,  to  meet  the  expense:  and  on  learning  that 
no  increase  could  be  expected,  nearly  all  of  them  were  closed.  A  do- 
nation of  $600  from  a  friend  at  Madras,  enabled  Mr.  Winslow  to  re- 

43 


338  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

sume  14  of  them  in  October.  A  mission  church  was  formed  on  the  21st 
of  December,  and  one  native  admitted  on  profession  of  his  faith.  Dr. 
Scudder,  and  Mr.  Smith  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  labored 
unitedly  in  preaching  the  gospel ;  and  by  the  divine  blessing  on  their 
labors,  a  revival  of  religion  was  in  progress  at  the  end  of  the  year. — 
Mrs.  Winslow  died  on  the  23d  of  September. 

Madura.  Mcssrs.  Muzzy,  Crane  and  Cope  arrived  at  Madura  on 

the  10th  of  May,  and  Messrs.  Tracy  and  Ward  on  the  9th  of  October. 
Mrs.  Todd,  who  was  formerly  Mrs.  Frost,  and  afterwards  Mrs.  Wood- 
ward, died  on  the  1st  of  June,  and  Mrs.  Cherry  on  the  4th  of  Novem- 
ber, in  Ceylon.  Mr.  Lawrence  joined  Mr.  Dwight  at  Dindigul,  in  May. 
Two  natives  were  received  into  the  church  in  July.  In  June,  there 
were  43  schools  connected  with  the  station  at  Madura,  and  17  with 
that  at  Dindigul ;  in  all,  60  schools,  with  2,284  scholars.  Nearly  all 
must  have  been  closed,  had  not  the  Madras  government,  learning  the 
circumstances,  made  an  unexpected  donation  of  .£300  sterling  for  their 
support. — A  church  was  formed  at  Dindigul  in  July. 
Ceylon.  Hevivdi.  Jq  CcyloH,  lu  May,  Hcury  Martyn,  a  native  beneficiary, 

was  licensed  as  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  In  May  and  June,  there  was 
another  season  of  revival,  especially  at  Batticotta,  where  there  were  12 
or  15  apparent  conversions,  and  at  Oodooville,  where  16  were  after- 
wards admitted  to  the  church,  as  the  fruits  of  this  gracious  visitation. 
During  the  year  46  were  received  into  the  churches,  and  24  were  ex- 
communicated. 

In  July,  there  were  187  free  schools,  with  6,996  pupils  ;  151  schol- 
ars in  the  seminary,  eight  of  whom  were  from  the  continent,  and  98 
girls  in  the  boarding  school.  There  was  not  money  enough  in  the 
treasury  of  the  mission  to  sustain  all  its  operations  for  two  months. 
Information  had  been  received  of  the  pecuniary  condition  and  prospects 
of  the  Board.  A  meeting  was  called  on  the  last  day  of  the  month. 
Retrenchment  was  seen  to  be  unavoidable.  The  free  schools  would 
suffer  from  a  temporary  suspension  ;  but  every  other  department  would 
suffer  more  fatally.  It  was  resolved  to  suspend  all  but  14,  to  admit  no 
new  class  into  the  seminary,  to  dismiss  a  part  of  the  students  of  the 
seminary  and  girls'  school,  to  stop  all  building  except  the  completion 
of  the  printing  office,  and  to  make  other  painful  retrenchments.  The 
heathen  triumphed.  They  said  the  mission  was  going  down.  Native 
church  members  were  discouraged,  and  resisted  ridicule,  threats  and 
temptation,  less  firmly.  Those  educated  in  the  seminary,  and  thus  fit- 
ted for  public  employment,  had  long  been  sought  by  rich  heathen  parents 
of  high  caste,  as  husbands  for  their  daughters.  Many  yielded.  Hence, 
principally,  the  unusual  number  of  excommunications. 

The  government  of  the  island,  November  4,  understanding  the  want 
of  funds,  made  a  donation  of  o£200,  "  in  token  of  the  high  sense  enter- 
tained of  the  important  services"  of  the  mission. 

Mrs.  Minor  died  in  June. 
ckiua  and  japa».  Chincsfi  printing,  with  metallic  type,  was  carried  on  at 


340  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

Macao,  where  Mr.  Williams  had  been,  with  ihe  press,  ever  since  1835. 
This  year  he  completed  the  printing  of  Medhurst's  English  and  Chinese 
Dictionary.  Besides  the  Chinese,  he  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  Japan- 
ese language,  into  which  he  intended,  ultimately,  to  introduce  the  art 
of  printing.  Principally  by  means  of  the  dispensary,  which  was  sup- 
ported by  foreigners  residing  at  Canton,  access  was  obtained  to  several 
thousands  of  the  Chinese,  to  whom  some  knowledge  of  the  gospel  was 
imparted  in  conversation,  and  by  books  and  tracts,  of  which  a  large 
supply  in  Chinese,  and  some  in  Japanese,  were  received  from  Singapore 
in  August,  In  July,  Mr.  King,  of  the  house  of  Olyphant  and  Company, 
accompanied  by  his  wife.  Dr.  Parker,  Mr.  Williams,  and  seven  ship- 
wrecked Japanese  sailors,  whom  he  intended  to  restore  to  their  country, 
sailed  for  Yeddo,  the  capital  of  Japan.  They  touched  at  the  Loo  Choo 
Islands,  where  they  took  on  board  Mr.  Gutzlaff.  Both  at  Yeddo  and 
another  port  they  were  fired  upon  by  the  Japanese,  and  compelled  to 
return,  bringing  back  the  sailors  at  their  own  request,  and  having 
ascertained  that,  at  present,  intercourse  with  Japan  is  impossible. 
siam.  At  Bangkok,  a  considerable  amount  of  Siamese  print- 

ing was  done  for  the  mission,  and  for  the  Baptist  brethren.     In  other 
respects,  there  was  but  little  change ;  except  that^,  towards  the  close  of 
the  year,  evidence  of  inquiry,  and  even  of  serious  inquiry,  concerning 
Christianity,  were  more  numerous  and  more  unequivocal. 
Singapore.  Thc  opcrations  of  the  mission  at  Singapore  could  not 

be  enlarged,  as  had  been  intended,  for  want  of  funds.  The  mission 
seminary  was  commenced  about  the  1st  of  February,  with  about  20 
scholars.  It  was  intended  for  the  education  of  pupils  from  all  the 
nations  of  Southeastern  Asia  and  the  Indian  Archipelago,  till  it  should 
become  possible  to  adopt  the  better  plan  of  educating  each  in  his  own 
country. 

The  Himmeieh.  Aftcr  thc  dcath  of  Mr.  Stevens,  Mr.  Dickinson  took  his 

place  as  an  explorer  on  board  the  Himmeieh.  The  vessel  sailed  on 
the  30th  of  January,  visited  Makassar,  Celebes,  Borneo,  and  other 
islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  returned  in  June.  The  Himme- 
ieh also  was  owned  by  Messrs.  Olyphant  and  Company.  The  informa- 
tion obtained  on  this  voyage  must  be  of  great  value  in  planning  future 
missions. 

Netherkncu  iiuiia.  Thc  brcthrcn  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  who  were 

in  Java,  had  found  their  movements  greatly  restricted  by  the  govern- 
ment of  Netherlands  India.  Their  request  for  liberty  to  explore  to  the 
eastward  of  Java  was  answered,  after  a  delay  of  seven  months,  by  a 
prohibition  to  settle  upon  Java,  Celebes  or  the  Moluccas,  and  permis- 
sion to  commence  a  mission  in  Borneo.  In  August,  the  government 
decided  that  no  foreign  missionary  should  be  permitted  to  establish  him- 
self any  where  in  Netherlands  India,  except  in  Borneo;  nor  even  there 
without  previously  residing  a  year  at  Batavia,  under  the  eye  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  promising  to  teach  nothing  contrary  to  that  passive  sub- 
mission which  the  government  requires ;  and  that  the  local  authorities 


1837.]  GREECE.   TURKEY.  341 

in  Borneo  should  watch  their  conduct,  and  report  to  the  government. 
The  other  parts  of  Netherlands  India  are  open  oiily  to  missionaries  of 
the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society.  While  waiting  for  an  answer 
from  the  government,  Mr.  Ennis  explored  a  part  of  Sumatra.  In  the 
Batta  country  he  was  taken  sick ;  and  being  unable  to  travel,  the  Battas 
carried  him  in  a  litter  of  split  bamboos,  on  their  shoulders,  six  days,  and 
then  in  a  canoe  to  Tapanooly.  Mr.  Arms  embarked  in  December,  on 
his  return  to  the  United  States. 

The  Rev.  George  W.  Leyburn  embarked  at  Boston,  Greece,  station  at 
January  7,  with  his  wife,  to  join  Mr.  Houston  at  Scio.  ^^"'P''''^- 
Before  his  arrival,  the  celebrated  Petron  Bey,  or  Mavromichalis,  who 
now  resided  at  Athens,  renewed  his  request  to  Dr.  King,  that  mission- 
aries might  be  sent  to  his  native  region.  Mane,  the  country  of  the 
ancient  Spartans.  He  had  made  the  same  request  to  Mr.  Anderson, 
when  in  Greece  in  1829.  The  result  was,  that  Mr.  Houston  and  Mr. 
Leyburn  commenced  a  mission  there,  at  Tsimoba,  or  Ariopolis,  on  the 
first  day  of  June.  They  were  soon  joined  by  Dr.  Gallati,  their  friend 
and  faithful  helper  at  Scio.  Mavromichalis  had  prepared  the  way  for 
them,  and  even  excited  the  people  to  invite  them.  They  were  cordially 
received,  immediately  began  to  build  a  school-house,  and  in  the  autumn 
opened  a  school  with  50  scholars.  The  people  boast  that  they  are 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Spartans,  and  that  neither  Alexander,  the 
Romans  or  the  Turks  were  ever  able  to  subdue  them. 

As  funds  were  wanting,  and  as  the  Greek  government  had  estab- 
lished a  gymnasium  and  a  university  at  Athens,  Dr.  King  gave  up  all 
his  schools.  The  other  operations  of  the  mission,  both  here  and  at 
Argos,  continued  much  as  last  year. 

At  Constantinople,  the  Vakeel,  or  secretary,  or  prime  TheArmemans. 
minister,  of  the  Armenian  Patriarch,  resolved  to  break  up  the  high 
school  for  Amenians,  of  which  Hohannes  was  president.  It  was  effect- 
ed, principally,  by  compelling  parents  to  take  away  their  sons.  This 
measure  caused  great  excitement  among  the  Armenians,  by  many  of 
whom  the  school  and  its  president  were  highly  esteemed.  It  was 
thought  best,  therefore,  to  re-organize  and  enlarge  an  Armenian  school 
at  Hass  Koy,  so  as  to  receive  600  scholars.  One  of  their  richest  bank- 
ers, who  ordered  150  boys  to  be  supported  there  at  his  expense,  and 
who  in  a  short  time  expended  $5,000  on  the  school,  was  appointed  its 
supreme  director  ;  and  he  appointed  Hohannes  its  president.  The  op- 
posite party  remonstrated,  entreated  and  threatened ;  but  the  banker 
was  not  to  be  moved.  He  told  them  that  he  must  be  permitted  to  man- 
age the  institution  in  his  own  way,  or  they  might  strike  his  name  from 
the  list  of  their  nation ;  for  he  would  never  again  give  a  single  para 
for  the  support  of  any  of  their  religious  institutions.  He  was  a  man  of 
too  much  wealth  and  influence  to  be  spared ;  and,  in  the  spring,  the 
school,  or  college,  as  it  was  called,  went  into  operation  under  Hohannes, 
and  soon  had  400  students.  The  school,  though  wholly  at  the  expense 
and  under  the  control  of  the  Armenians,  was,  of  course,  decidedly  evan- 


342  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

gelical  in  its  whole  character ;  and  the  opposition  of  the  Vakeel  was  so 
overruled,  as  to  place  Hohannes  in  a  station  of  far  greater  influence 
than  that  from  which  it  had  driven  him. 

The  progress  of  knowledge  and  piety  among  the  Armenians  here,, 
appears  to  have  been  quite  as  great  as  during  the  last  year,  if  not  even 
greater ;  but  except  that  already  mentioned,  no  public  event  marked 
the  advance  of  evangelical  sentiments.  Several  ladies  exerted  a  pow- 
erful and  salutary  influence,  by  private  conversation  in  their  families 
and  among  their  friends. 

Owing  first  to  the  plague,  and  then  to  want  of  funds,  the  Greek 
schools  were  brought  near  to  extinction. 

In  March,  Mr.  Homes  visited  Palestine  and  Syria,  intending  to  de- 
vote a  year  to  the  study  of  the  Arabic  language.  At  Damascus,  near 
the  close  of  the  year,  he  had  a  few  boys  under  his  instruction,  and  might 
easily  have  gathered  a  school. 

Mrs.  Dwight  died  of  the  plague,  on  the  8th  of  July.  The  learned 
and  amiable  Peshtemaljan,  who  was  at  least  the  Erasmus  of  the  Arme- 
nian reformation,  died  about  the  close  of  the  year. 

Senekerim  arrived  at  Boston  in  July;  sent  by  his  evangelical 
brethren,  to  obtain  such  an  education  as  they  thought  indispensable  to 
their  plans,  and  not  accessible  in  their  own  country.  He  spent  some 
time  at  Andover,  some  time  at  New  York,  and  is  now  at  Prince- 
ton. 

Asia  Minor.  Thc  brcthrcn  at  Broosa  found  their  labors  still  circum- 

scribed by  ecclesiastical  opposition ;  but  rather  less  strictly  than  the  last 
year.  The  Greek  school  at  Demir  Tash  was  again  in  operation.  The 
teacher  had  been  driven  away,  because  he  was  "  evangelical ;"  but  at 
length  the  people  invited  him  back,  and  the  school  was  resumed. 
Two  young  men  who  were  studying  under  Mr.  Powers,  began  to  give 
some  evidence  of  piety.  One  of  them  was  a  teacher  in  an  Armenian 
school  of  200  or  300  scholars.  By  those  who  controlled  its  manage- 
ment, the  school  was  divided,  and  55  or  60  of  the  most  advanced  were 
put  under  his  instruction,  to  be  taught  to  read  and  understand  the  Bible 
in  ancient  Armenian.  Afterwards,  the  heads  of  the  nation  at  Broosa, 
wishing  to  have  better  educated  priests,  selected  eight  of  the  most 
promising  of  these,  to  be  educated  for  the  priesthood  ;  engaging  to  pay 
their  expenses  for  a  term  of  years.  The  teacher  made  the  moral  and 
religious  improvement  of  his  pupils  a  distinct  object  of  his  labors ;  so 
that  there  was  reason  to  hope  that  Broosa  would  at  length  have  a 
learned  and  pious  priesthood. 

The  missionaries  at  Trebizond  were  unable,  on  account  of  opposition, 
to  collect  a  school. 

The  circular  of  June  23,  requiring  retrenchment  of  expenses,  bore 
hard  upon  the  printing  establishment  at  Smyrna.  During  the  former 
part  of  the  year,  its  operations  had  been  enlarged,  and  the  whole 
amount  of  work  done  this  year  was  much  greater  than  that  of  the  year 
before.     A  remarkably  neat  pocket  edition  of  the  Armenian  New  Tes- 


1837.]  SYRIA.      JERUSALEM.  343 

tament  was  finished  on  the  last  day  of  December.  A  school  of  80 
Greek  children  was  closed  the  same  day. 

A  missionary  conference  was  held  here  from  September  27  to  Octo- 
ber 5.  There  were  present,  all  the  members  of  this  mission, — Messrs. 
King,  Riggs  and  Benjamin  from  Greece,  Mr.  Dwight  from  Constanti- 
nople, Mr,  Smith  from  Beirut,  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  agent  of  the  American 
Bible  Society.  The  great  principles  on  which  the  missions  in  this  part 
of  the  world  had  been  conducted,  were  fully  discussed,  and  decidedly 
approved,  as  agreeable  to  Scripture  and  sanctioned  by  experience ;  past 
hinderances  and  deficiencies  in  the  execution  of  them,  and  future  im- 
provements were  maturely  considered  ;  and  much  time  was  spent  in 
devotional  exercises. 

The  mission  in  Scio  was  transferred  to  Greece,  as  already  related. 

At  Beirut,  ecclesiastical  opposition  continued,  but  with  ^y''">- 

less  violence.  The  teacher  employed  by  the  Greek  bishop,  whose  duty 
it  was  not  only  to  teach  school,  but  to  conduct  a  large  part  of  the 
church  service,  had  become  decidedly  evangelical.  He  frequently  visit- 
ed the  missionaries,  attended  their  preaching,  and  brought  others  with 
him  ;  daily  discussed  religion-  subjects  with  some  of  his  people,  taught 
the  truth  to  his  large  school  with  all  boldness,  and  gathered  and  taught 
a  large  Sunday  School.  Councils  were  held,  and  the  bishop  command- 
ed and  threatened  ;  but  he  mildly  assured  them  that  he  should  continue 
in  the  course  which  he  believed  to  be  his  duty;  and  such  was  his  weight 
of  character  and  the  attachment  of  his  scholars  to  him,  that  his  opposers 
thought  it  not  safe  to  depose  him  from  his  office.  Several  others  ap- 
peared to  be  truly  pious,  and  were  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
church. — The  mission  seminary  was  doing  well,  with  a  few  scholars: 
but  was  obliged  to  reject  several  applications  for  admission,  for  want  of 
funds. 

The  mission  at  Jerusalem,  early  in  the  year,  engaged  Jerusalem. 

the  services  of  TannCis  Kerem,  of  Safet,  as  a  native  assistant.  He  was, 
by  birth  and  education,  of  the  Latin  church,  but  in  thought  and  feeling, 
with  the  mission.  He  arrived  with  his  family  in  June,  and  besides  his 
literary  services,  was  the  means  of  procuring  a  more  extended  personal 
acquaintance  with  the  people.  In  June,  the  cholera  appeared,  and 
swept  off"  about  400  people  in  a  month.  The  missionaries,  with  Mr. 
Homes,  who  was  then  there,  devoted  their  whole  time  to  the  gratuitous 
service  of  the  sick  ;  a  thing  before  unknown  in  that  region.  They  gave 
medical  aid  to  many,  nearly  all  of  whom  recovered.  Their  kindness 
attracted  notice,  and  gained  them  many  friends.  Soon  after,  religious 
services  on  the  Sabbath  in  Arabic  were  commenced,  and  a  few  attend- 
ed. In  September,  preaching  was  introduced,  and  the  attendants,  aver- 
aging about  20,  were  gratified  with  the  change.  Eleven  of  them,  four 
of  whom  hail  been  hard  drinkers,  became  members  of  a  temperance  so- 
ciety.— The  girls'  school  prospered  under  the  care  of  Miss  Tilden.  A 
school  for  boys  was  opened  in  August,  under  a  Greek  teacher,  which 
soon  had  its  full  number  of  scholars,  (24,)  and  many  appUcants  were  re- 


344  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

fused. —  Gen.  Cass,  American  Ambassador  at  Paris,  visited  Jerusalem 
this  summer  ;  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Prudential  Committee,  gave  his  tes- 
timony to  the  good  character  and  valuable  influence  of  the  mission. 
Cyprus.  The  brethren  in  Cyprus,  besides  the  extensive  distribu- 

tion of  books  and  tracts,  gratuitously  and  by  sale,  resolved  to  supply  every 
church  in  the  island  with  a  copy  of  the  Modern  Greek  New  Testament. 
All  in  the  southern  district,  235  in  number,  were  supplied.  The  High 
School  at  Larnica,  under  Themistocles,  had  17  scholars,  in  three  classes  ; 
and  the  two  Lancasterian  schools  had  200  scholars.  Themistocles  de- 
livered a  course  of  exegetical  lectures  on  the  Scriptures  to  the  three 
schools,  as  well  as  to  priests  and  people  on  Sabbath  mornings ;  and  the 
priests  were  beginning  to  imitate  his  example  in  different  parts  of  the 
island.  A  similar  exercise  was  afterwards  established,  by  order  of  the 
archbishop,  in  the  Hellenic  school  at  Nicosia.  The  threats  of  the  Pa- 
triarch at  Constantinople  had  become  so  violent,  that  clergy,  laity  and 
missionaries  at  Larnica,  all  thought  it  best  to  yield  to  them.  The  three 
schools  were  therefore  closed  on  the  8th  of  May.  Before  the  end  of  the 
month,  they  were  started  again  in  the  name  of  the  Greeks,  and  went  on 
as  before,  except  that  the  Greeks,  and  not  the  mission,  paid  the  expense. 
Kestomns.  The  Rcv.  Albcrt  L.  Holladay  and  Mr.  William  R.  Stock- 

ing, w'lih  their  wives,  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  7th  of  January,  to  join 
the  mission  to  the  Nestorians,  They  arrived  at  Ooroomiah  on  the  7th 
of  June,  and  found  their  field  of  labor  even  more  encouraging  than  they 
had  expected.  No  change  had  occurred,  except  a  constant  advance  in 
promoting  education  and  the  knowledge  of  divine  truth.  A  bishop, 
two  priests,  a  deacon  and  several  copyists  were  employed  in  preparing 
and  distributing  manuscript  tracts  and  portions  of  Scripture.  A  press  and 
type  had  now  arrived  ;  but  funds  were  wanting  to  send  a  printer. 

Early  in  the  year,  a  Roman  Catholic  bishop  came  to  Ooroomiah, 
saying  that  he  had  a  large  sum  of  money  to  expend  in  assisting  the  Nes- 
torians, if  they  would  join  his  church.  The  Nestorians  came  to  Mr. 
Perkins  for  proof  texts  against  image-worship  and  other  Romish  errors; 
and  after  obtaining  them  and  adding  to  their  number  by  their  own  re- 
searches, were  ready  to  answer  the  bishop.  The  Nestorians  were  high- 
ly gratified  with  the  discussion  that  followed,  and  prized  the  Scriptures 
more  than  ever. 

Pemans.  Mr.  Mcrrlck  remained  more  than  seven  months  at  Shiraz. 

He  became  intimate  with  Mirza  Seyed  Aly,  who  assisted  Henry  Martyn  in 
translating  the  New  Testament,  and  who  still  retained  his  admiration  for 
that  man  of  God. 

Mr.  Merrick's  conclusion  was,  that  a  renunciation  of  Muhammedan- 
ism  would  be  followed  by  a  violent  death,  even  at  Shiraz.  He  returned 
to  Ispahan,  where  he  remained  openly  ten  days  ;  but  no  riot  was  raised, 
as  on  his  former  visit.  Here  he  received  proposals  from  an  Armenian 
archbishop,  to  assist  them  in  establishing  and  supporting  a  school  ;  but 
they  could  not  agree  upon  the  principles  on  which  it  should  be  conduct- 
ed.    He  returned  to  Ooroomiah,  where  he  remained  till  November. 


1837.]  CAPE   PALMAS.      THE   ZULUS.  345 

Malek  Kassan  Mirza,  the  King's  uncle,  who  visited  the  mission  last  year, 
now  made  a  second  visit.  He  had  been  recovered  from  habits  of  in- 
temperance by  Dr.  Riach,  of  the  English  embassy.  He  called  for  the 
"Permanent  Documents"  of  the  American  Temperance  Society,  read  a 
part  of  the  first  page,  and  said  that  he  intended  to  translate  the  whole 
into  Persian,  and  present  it  to  the  King.  He  then  gave  orders  that  it 
should  be  made  the  English  text  book  in  a  school  which  he  supported  at 
Sheshawan,  where  he  resided.  By  his  invitation,  Mr.  Merrick  accom- 
panied him  home,  where  he  remained  about  three  months. — This  year, 
the  publication  of  the  first  newspaper  in  Persia  was  commenced,  by  order 
of  the  King. 

As  soon  as  the  arrival  of  Mr.  White  at  Cape  Palmas  was  cape  Paimas. 
known,  he  received  invitations  from  five  ditierent  settlements,  to  reside 
among  them.  When  it  was  understood  that  he  was  to  live  at  Cape  Pal- 
mas, delegates  from  two  kings  came,  and  begged  to  be  sent  to  Ameri- 
ca with  "  books,"  that  is,  letters,  "  to  get  white  men  for  themselves." 
On  Sunday,  January  15,  he  preached  by  an  interpreter.  He  told  the 
people,  this  might  be  the  last  time  they  would  ever  hear  his  voice ;  and 
when  he  asked  them  what  report  concerning  them  he  should  carry  up  to 
heaven,  intense  emotion  was  depicted  on  almost  every  countenance.  He 
was  seized  with  the  fever  on  the  iSth,  and  died  on  the  23d.  Mrs.  White 
was  seized  on  the  10th,  and  died  on  the  28th. 

In  March  and  April,  Mr.  Wilson  penetrated  the  interior  about  100 
miles,  hoping  to  reach  the  Kong  mountains,  which  were  thought  to  af- 
ford a  favorable  site  for  a  mission  ;  but  falling  sick  at  Grabba,  among 
Cannibals,  he  was  compelled  to  return.  Soon  after,  from  a  misun- 
derstanding, the  natives  rose  against  the  colony,  and  bloodshed  was  pre- 
vented only  by  his  judicious  interference. 

There  were  several  candidates  for  church  membership,  and  an  en- 
couraging attendance  on  preaching.  Several  small  books  were  printed 
in  the  native  (Grebo)  language ;  and  five  schools  were  in  operation.  The 
circular  of  June  23d  came,  requiring  retrenchment.  Printing  ceased. 
Two  schools  were  closed.  The  boardino-  school  was  reduced  one  third. 
The  natives  friendly  to  the  mission  were  discouraged,  Mr.  Wilson  was 
accused  of  breaking  his  word,  and  confidence  in  the  mission  was  exten- 
sively impaired. 

The  two  missions  to  the  Zulus  were  reduced  to  one.  The  zniu.. 

Some  time  in  1835,  a  considerable  number  of  Boers,  or  farmers  of  Dutch 
descent,  complaining  of  British  oppression,  emigrated  beyond  the  bounds 
of  the  Cape  Colony,  to  the  region  near  the  Zulus  of  the  interior.  They 
were  rich  in  sheep  and  cattle.  In  the  autumn  of  1836,  Moselekatsi,  from 
no  motive  but  the  love  of  plunder,  attacked  their  settlement,  killed  sev- 
eral of  the  people  and  drove  away  their  flocks  and  herds.  Having  been 
reinforced  by  new  emigrants,  the  Boers,  on  the  17th  of  January,  1837, 
suddenly  advanced  to  Mosiki,  slew  many  of  the  warriors,  destroyed  14 
villages,  and  compelled  Moselekatsi  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  They  de- 
clared their  intention  utterly  to  ruin  him, (which  they  afterwards  accom- 

44 


346  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

plished,)  and  advised  the  missionaries  to  leave  the  place  under  their  pro- 
tection. They  thought  it  best  to  comply  ;  and  after  a  circuitous  jour- 
ney of  about  1300  miles,  1000  of  which  was  in  wagons  drawn  by  oxen, 
through  the  wilderness,  joined  their  brethren  at  Natal,  on  the  27th  of 
July. 

At  Umlazi,  near  Port  Natal,  Dr.  Adams  had,  in  May,  a  school  of 
50  children,  and  a  morning  class  of  adults.  The  Sabbath  school  for 
adults  amounted  to  250,  and  another,  under  Mrs.  Adams,  was  still 
larger.  Mrs.  Adams  was  also  teaching  30  or  40  women  the  use  of  the 
needle.  The  average  attendance  on  preaching  was  about  400.  Mr. 
Champion,  at  Ginani,  had  10  boys  and  20  girls  at  school,  and  a  con- 
gregation of  100  or  200.  The  press  was  set  up  during  the  summer, 
and  some  elementary  school  tracts  were  printed. 

A  new  station  was  commenced  by  Mr.  Lindley,  on  the  Tllovo  river, 
15  miles  southwest  from  Port  Natal,  and  another  by  Mr.  Venable  and 
Dr.  Wilson,  30  miles  beyond  Ginani,  in  the  interior.     Mr.  Grout  re- 
turned, with  his  child  and  Dr.  Wilson's,  to  the  United  States. 
cherokees.  Thc  Cherolcces  around  Carmel  had  been  crowded  from 

their  homes  by  the  influx  of  Georgians.  The  station  was  therefore 
abandoned,  and  the  members  of  the  church  mostly  united  with  the 
church  at  Brainerd,  which  now  numbered  110.  The  station  at  Creek 
Path  also  was  abandoned.  The  affections  of  the  people  seemed  to 
cling  to  Brainerd,  the  oldest  of  the  stations.  Here,  at  Candy's  Creek 
and  at  Red  Clay,  public  worship  was  well  attended,  and  schools  were 
kept  up.  Walker,  one  of  the  itinerant  teachers,  had  ten  or  twelve 
schools.  His  labors  were  attended  by  some  visible  reformation  of 
morals,  and  apparently,  in  some  instances,  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Jesse 
was  cheated  out  of  his  property  by  a  white  man,  and  in  a  state  of  des- 
pondency was  tempted  by  another  white  man  to  intoxication.  It  was 
a  single  fault,  and  he  appeared  penitent ;  but  he  had  fallen,  and  his 
schools  were  closed. 

Western  MUsions.  Among  thc  Choctaws  and  Cherokees  beyond  the  Mis- 

sissippi, there  was  little  change.  A  Cherokee  almanac  was  among  the 
works  printed  at  Park  Hill.  Eleven  Choctaw  schools  were  supported 
some  part  of  the  year  by  the  Board,  four  of  which  were  taught  by 
natives.  In  the  autumn,  12  or  15  schools  under  the  direction  of  the 
United  States'  Agent,  supported  by  a  fund  belonging  to  the  Choctaws, 
had  gone  into  operation.     Some  members  were  added  to  the  churches. 

Encouraged  by  some  favorable  indications,  Mr.  W.  C.  Requa,  at- 
tempted to  revive  the  Osage  mission,  and  had  begun  to  erect  buildings 
and  make  improvements  within  their  present  residence;  but  the  hostil- 
ity of  the  chiefs  and  majority  of  the  people,  who  began  to  destroy  the 
property  of  the  mission,  and  threatened  the  lives  of  the  Osage  settlers, 
compelled  him  to  abandon  the  attempt,  and  the  Osage  mission  was  at 
an  end. 

The   population   around  Mackinaw   had   so  entirely 
changed,  and  the  resort  of  Indians  to  that  place  for  pur- 


1837.]  INDIAN  MISSIONS.  347 

poses  of  trade  had  so  nearly  ceased,  that  it  was  no  longer  an  advantageous 
site  for  an  Indian  mission.  The  20  or  25  children  in  the  boarding 
school,  therefore,  were  returned  to  their  friends,  or  placed  in  advanta- 
geous situations,  the  property  was  sold,  and  the  mission  was  closed. 

The  mission  to  the  Stockbridge  tribe  found  this  a  year  siocxbridge. 

of  more  than  ordinary  trials  and  prosperity.  Early  in  the  year,  the 
spirit  of  piety  seemed  to  have  declined,  and  one  of  the  head  men  of 
the  tribe  had  been  excommunicated.  In  February,  special  efforts  were 
made  to  awaken  the  church,  and  bring  its  members  to  their  right  minds. 
The  divine  blessing  attended.  There  was  a  visible  spirit  of  penitence 
and  confession.  The  impenitent  were  awakened ;  and  as  the  fruits  of 
this  effort,  16  were  received  into  the  church  in  November ;  making, 
with  three  others  received  during  the  year,  70  members  added  to  the 
church  since  the  commencement  of  the  mission  in  1828.  Meanwhile, 
certain  negotiations  with  the  United  States'  government,  and  the  pro- 
posed abolition  of  Indian  customs  and  adoption  of  a  new  and  more  effi- 
cient code  of  laws,  excited  the  spirit  of  party,  and  many  professed  con- 
verts kept  back  from  uniting  with  the  church. 

At  the  Seneca,  Cattaraugus  and  Alleghany  stations,  in  New  York  indium. 
the  State  of  New  York,  a  series  of  religious  meetings  in  the  autumn 
was  the  means  of  reviving  and  enlarging  the  churches.  At  Cattarau- 
gus, the  Christian  chiefs  invited  the  heathen  party  to  meet  them  at  the 
Council  house.  Mr.  Wright  addressed  them  in  their  own  language, 
and  several  Indians,  members  of  the  church,  followed  him.  The  pa- 
gans seemed  pleased  with  what  they  heard,  and  requested  Mr.  Wright 
to  hold  another  meeting,  and  "  use  up  the  whole  gospel  among  them." 
It  was  appointed,  and  he  gave  them  as  full  a  summary  of  the  Bible  as 
could  be  given  in  a  speech  two  hours  long.  They  requested  another 
meeting  to  hear  Mr.  Bliss  "  tell  his  story."  He  also  spoke  about  two 
hours.  They  expressed  their  approbation.  Some  admitted  that  the 
gospel  is  true,  and  that  God  hears  the  prayers  of  Christians. 

The  mission  to  the  Pawnees  was  deprived  of  one  of  its  Pawnees. 

members.  The  particulars  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Satterlee  are  not  known  ; 
but  it  is  supposed  that  he  was  murdered,  on  the  10th  of  May,  while 
returning  from  a  visit  to  a  neighboring  tribe,  by  a  lawless  and  cruel 
white  man  who  dwelt  in  those  wilds,  and  whom  "  vengeance  suffered 
not  to  live"  but  a  short  time  afterwards. 

The  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Riggs  and   his  wife  joined  the  «'""• 

mission  to  the  Sioux  in  April.  The  Messrs.  Pond,  who  had  been  here 
longer  than  the  mission,  and  had  been  fellow-laborers  from  the  begm- 
ing,  and  one  of  whom  had  now  studied  theology,  became  members  of 
the  mission  in  form,  near  the  close  of  the  year.  With  more  knowledge 
of  the  language,  more  of  divine  truth  was  imparted,  and  with  greater 
effect.  The  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Dagota  language 
was  commenced. — In  the  autumn,  some  of  the  Yankton  band  of  the 
Sioux  went  on  board  a  steam-boat  to  procure  whisky.  The  small-pox 
was  on  board,  and  they  took  the  infection.     From  the  Yanktons,  it 


348  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARa  [1837. 

spread  to  the  Wapekiite  and  Teton  bands,  which  it  nearly  annihilated. 
Some  families,  fleeing  from  the  disease,  brought  it  to  Lac  qui  Parle, 
"where  its  spread  was  arrested  by  the  prompt  and  efficient  measures  of 
the  missionaries.  It  passed  on  to  the  north  and  west,  to  the  Assineboins, 
Mandans,  Blackfeet,  and  other  tribes,  some  of  which  it  almost  wholly 
exterminated.  Tens  of  thousands  were  swept  away  in  its  destructive 
career. 

ojibwas.  The  mission  to  the  Ojibwas  continued  to  make  steady 

and  perceptible,  but  very  slow  advances  in  its  work.  A  church  was 
formed  at  Pokeguma  in  February,  with  three  native  members.  There 
were  some  others,  of  whose  piety  there  was  reason  to  hope.  About 
the  close  of  the  year  there  w^as  a  manifest  increase  of  serious  attention 
to  religious  truth  and  worship. — A  few  families  were  evidently  be- 
coming civilized.  They  built  comfortable  houses,  for  their  permanent 
abodes ;  the  men  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  the  women  in  the  labors 
of  housewifery. — The  gospel  of  Luke,  translated  by  Mr.  Hall,  assisted 
by  George  Copway,  a  native  catechist  from  the  Methodist  mission  to 
the  Ojibwas  in  Canada,  was  printed  at  Boston. 

Oregon  Missions  Thc  mlssionarlcs  to  the  Indians  beyond  the  Rocky 

Mountains  had  the  most  encouraging  prospects  of  success.  For  years, 
several  tribes  had  been  anxious  for  religious  instruction.  They  had 
heard  that  there  were  good  people  towards  the  rising  sun,  who  knew 
and  loved  and  sei  ved  the  true  God ;  and  a  delegation  of  Flatheads 
once  came  as  far  as  St.  Lewis  to  make  inquiries  on  the  subject.  By 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  traders  from  both 
nations  might  reside  in  certain  parts  of  the  territory  for  the  present. 
There  were  several  British  forts,  or  trading  posts,  where  the  traders 
lived  civilized  lives,  and  carried  on  rather  extensive  agricultural  opera- 
tions. These  traders  generally  exerted  a  good  moral  influence, 
and  were  friendly  to  the  mission.  From  them  the  Indians  had  gained 
some  indistinct,  yet  beneficial  ideas  of  Christianity.  By  their  instruc- 
tions, the  Kayuses  near  Fort  Wallawalla  had  learned  to  assemble  at 
the  lodge  of  "their  chief  every  morning  and  evening  and  Sabbath  fore- 
noon, to  unite  in  worship,  consisting  of  singing,  a  form  of  prayer,  and 
an  address  from  the  chief.  A  simple  code  of  criminal  law  had  been  in- 
troduced from  the  same  source,  and  with  good  effect.  Some  degree  of 
a  similar  influence  had  pervaded  the  tribes  extensively.  They  had 
heard  of  the  Bible,  as  God's  book,  given  for  the  instruction  of  mankind, 
and  were  anxious  to  possess  it ;  believing  that,  in  some  way,  they 
should  yet  become  able  to  read  it.  Traders  and  hunters  had  been 
found,  vile  enough  to  sell  them  packs  of  cards,  saying  that  they  were 
the  Bible.  But  the  Indians,  though  uninformed,  were  not  incapable 
of  observation.  They  had  already  begun  to  suspect  that  "the  men 
who  would  bring  fire-water  into  the  country,  drink  it,  and  then  kill  each 
other,"  could  not  be  the  servants  of  the  true  God,  and  were  not  to  be 
trusted. 

The  commencement  of  two  stations  has  been  mentioned.    The  In- 


1837.]  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  349 

dians  labored  cheerfully  in  erecting  the  necessary  buildings.  But  their 
anxiety  for  religious  instruction  was  remarkable.  While  they  yet  un- 
derstood each  other's  language  but  imperfectly,  they  flocked  around  the 
missionaries,  caught  such  ideas  as  they  could,  respecting  truth  and  duty, 
and  sometimes,  after  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  spent  the  whole  night  in 
conversing  among  themselves  on  what  they  had  heard,  for  the  sake  of 
getting  clear  ideas  of  what  they  had  imperfectly  understood  ;  and  when 
once  clearly  informed  what  Christianity  required  of  them,  they  appear- 
ed not  only  ready,  but  zealous  to  comply.  Schools  were  established  at 
both  stations,  and  notwithstanding  the  want  of  books  and  the  necessity 
of  using  manuscript  lessons,  the  art  of  reading  in  English  was  acquired 
with  remarkable  rapidity.  The  Indians  themselves  were  desirous  to 
diflfuse  the  knowledge  of  the  truth ;  and  when  about  to  travel,  would 
take  pains  to  be  prepared  with  a  gospel  message  for  such  as  they  might 
meet  while  absent. 

It  was  necessary  for  Mr.  Spalding  to  procure  provisions  from  Fort 
Colville,  250  or  300  miles  to  the  north.  Horses,  there,  are  numerous, 
and  about  as  cheap  as  sheep  in  New  England.  He  started  on  the  28th 
of  August,  with  19  men  and  75  horses,  and  arrived  in  five  days.  The 
news  of  his  approach  spread  through  the  country,  and  every  night,  he 
must  preach  to  the  multitudes  who  had  come  long  distances  to  hear 
him,  and  who  followed  him  from  day  to  day,  for  the  sake  of  hearing 
more  at  night.     Several  exploring  tours  were  made,  with  similar  results. 

One  of  these  tours  was  made  by  Mr.  Gray,  in  March.  In  view  of 
the  results  of  his  inquiries  and  of  other  facts  within  their  own  know- 
ledge, it  was  believed  by  the  missionaries  that  at  least  fifty  additional 
families  were  needed,  to  supply  the  pressing  demand  for  religious  in- 
struction. It  was  thought  best  that  Mr.  Gray  should  return,  and  lay  the 
subject  personally  before  the  Prudential  Committee.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  four  delegates  from  the  Nez  Perces  and  the  Flatheads,  who 
brought  with  them  a  large  number  of  horses  and  other  property,  by  the 
sale  of  which  they  hoped  to  defray  a  part  of  the  expense  of  the  journey, 
and  of  the  expected  assistants.  On  their  way,  near  the  head-waters  of 
the  Platte  river,  a  plundering  party  of  Sioux  fell  upon  them,  murdered 
the  Indians,  and  took  the  property.  Mr.  Gray  providentially  escaped 
with  his  life,  arrived  at  St.  Louis  in  September,  and  soon  continued  his 
journey  to  the  east. 

The  reinforcements  which  sailed  for  the  Sandwich  Isl-  sandwich  islands. 
ands  in  December  arrived  in  April.  Their  passage  was  unusually  pleas- 
ant in  all  respects.  Besides  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  morning  and  eve- 
ning prayer  was  daily  attended  in  the  passengers'  cabin,  the  captain  him- 
self taking  the  lead  during  the  latter  part  of  the  voyage.  About  half  of 
the  crew  appeared  to  become  pious  during  the  voyage  ;  and  on  arriv- 
ing at  Honolulu,  six  or  eight  of  them,  including  two  of  the  officers,  be- 
came members  of  the  mission  church  at  that  place. 

Mrs.  Dibble  died  on  the  20th  of  February,  and  Mrs.  Lyons  on  the 
14th  of  May.     Mr.  Richards,  with  his  wife  and  six  children,  and  the 


350  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN  BOARD.  [1837. 

daughter  of  Mr.  Bishop,  arrived  at  Sag  Harbor  in  May.  Having  pro- 
vided for  the  education  of  their  children  and  rendered  important  servi- 
ces to  the  cause  of  missions,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richards  embarked  on  the  7th 
of  November  on  their  return  to  their  field  of  labor.  Mr.  Dibble's  health 
failed,  and  he  embarked  in  the  autumn  for  the  United  States. 

The  strength  of  religious  principle  among  the  people,  and  their  pre- 
paration to  act  from  their  own  convictions  of  duty,  were  more  manifest 
than  ever  before  ;  and  the  progress  of  knowledge  and  piety  advanced 
with  greater  firmness  and  strength.  The  schools  improved.  Graduates 
from  the  High  School  were  scattered  through  the  islands  as  teachers, 
and  proved  even  more  competent  than  had  been  expected.  Many  others 
had  become  tolerably  well  qualified  for  the  task.  Geography  and  arith- 
metic were  extensively  and  successfully  introduced  into  common  schools. 
A  boarding  school  had  gradually  come  into  operation  at  Hilo,  under 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyman,  and  Mr.  Coan,  also  at  Hilo,  had  90  teachers  un- 
der his  instruction.  A  central  school  for  girls  was  established  at  Wai- 
luku.  Aided  by  small  appropriations  from  the  mission,  the  natives  erect- 
ed more  substantial  school-houses  at  many  of  the  stations.  To  a  con- 
siderable extent,  they  contributed  to  the  support  of  schools,  of  their  own 
accord,  and  not,  as  formerly,  at  the  command  of  the  chiefs.  As  better 
teachers  multiplied  and  the  schools  grew  more  interesting,  many  of  the 
adult  schools  were  revived.  The  sum  of  the  numbers  of  learners  of  all 
classes,  mentioned  in  the  letters  of  the  missionaries  during  the  year,  not 
including  the  Sabbath  schools  and  Bible  classes,  is  11,932.  The  whole 
number  under  instruction  cannot  have  been  less  than  14,000  or  15,000. 

Improvement  in  the  outward  signs  of  civilization,  which  are  impor- 
tant means  of  its  advancement,  was  manifest,  and  was  increasing.  The 
great  majority  of  the  people  still  lived  in  their  native  cabins,  or  rather 
styes,  not  so  good  as  are  usually  provided  for  swine  in  New  England  ;  but 
many,  especially  near  the  missionary  stations,  had  built  and  were  build- 
ing comfortable  houses,  with  several  rooms  in  each,  and  with  pleasant 
yards  attached  to  them  ;  and  not  a  few  of  the  women  began  to  take 
some  pains  to  keep  them  clean,  and  make  them  agreeable  to  their  fami- 
lies and  visitors.  Numbers  learned  to  spin  and  weave  ;  the  cultivation 
of  cotton,  begun  a  year  or  two  before,  was  considerably  extended  ;  and 
Kuakini  erected  a  stone  building  at  Kailua,  70  feet  by  30,  for  the  manu- 
facture of  cloth.  A  considerable  amount  of  sugar  cane,  too,  was  culti- 
vated. 

But  that  which  was  the  moving  power,  the  enlivening  and  guiding 
spirit,  of  all  these  improvements,  advanced  with  equal  rapidity.  At  the 
annual  meeting  in  June,  there  v/ere  15  churches  on  the  Islands,  contain- 
ing 1049  members  in  good  standing,  and  the  number  of  admissions  within 
twelve  months  had  been  159.  These  were  converts  of  former  years.  Ad- 
missions during  the  remainder  of  this  year  were  unusually  numerous.  At 
Kailua,  19  were  admitted  in  October;  at  Hilo,  31  in  November;  13  in 
August  at  Wailuku ;  at  Waimea,  during  the  year,  83,  and  considerable 
numbers  at  other  stations. 


1837.]  THE   ROMAN    CATHOLIC   MISSION.  351 

Protracted  meetings,  conducted  with  special  vigilance  against  every 
thing  that  could  be  food  for  a  self-righteous  spirit,  were  found  well 
adapted  to  the  character  of  this  people.  They  were  held  at  nine  or  ten 
of  the  stations,  and  at  some  of  them  repeatedly,  with  decidedly  beneficial 
results.  That  at  Hilo,  in  February,  was  attended  by  many  from  a  dis- 
tance of  50  or  60  miles.  A  very  interesting  meeting  of  several  days  in 
autumn,  at  Waimea,  on  Hawaii,  closed  on  Saturday.  On  the  next  day, 
the  house  of  worship  was  crowded,  and  61  persons,  who  had  for  some 
time  been  candidates,  were  received  into  the  church.  Seventy-five  others 
stood  propounded ;  and  others  were  regarded  as  pious.  At  nearly  all 
the  stations,  the  effect  of  preaching  seems  to  have  been  greater  than 
usual  through  nearly  the  whole  year.  In  November,  another  protracted 
meeting  was  held  at  Hilo,  and  the  work  seemed  to  be  spreading  over 
the  whole  districts  of  Hilo  and  Puna.  And  finally,  in  December,  and 
especially  on  the  Sabbath  which  was  the  last  day  of  the  year,  general 
awakening  showed  itself  at  Honolulu.  The  glories  of  the  next  year  had 
already  begun  to  dawn  upon  the  Islands. 

The  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  returned  from  their  The  Roma..  c;>ihoiie 
banishment  to  California.  Their  return  had  always  been  "'"""'" 
contemplated  by  themselves  and  their  partisans.  Previous  to  August, 
1833,  the  British  Consul  had  written  to  them  that  affairs  were  yet  too 
unsettled  to  allow  them  prudently  to  return,  and  advising  them  to  wait 
for  a  more  favorable  state  of  things.  In  1835,  they  received  a  brief 
from  the  Pope,  exhorting  them  to  persevere  in  their  attempt  to  estabhsh 
a  mission  on  the  Islands.  September  30,  1836,  Mr.  Robert  Walsh,  an 
Irish  priest,  educated  at  Paris,  arrived  from  Valparaiso.  The  next  day, 
he  called  on  the  English  consul,  and  then  went  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
mission  house,  which  was  still  occupied  by  two  catechists,  who  had  been 
allowed  to  remain  as  mechanics.  The  next  day,  the  consul  introduced 
him  to  Kinau,  and  insisted  that  he,  as  a  British  subject,  should  be  al- 
lowed to  remain.  The  assembled  chiefs,  a  few  days  after,  granted  him 
permission  to  remain  till  the  arrival  of  Lord  Edward  Russel,  who  was 
daily  expected  ;  but  the  captain  who  brought  him  was  severely  repri- 
manded, for  landing  him  secretly.  October  7,  Mr.  Walsh  w^as  officially 
informed  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  remain  permanently,  and 
must  leave  the  Islands.  The  next  day,  the  French  sloop  of  war  Bonite, 
Capt.  Valliant,  arrived.  Mr.  Walsh  immediately  called  on  Capt.  Yal- 
liant,  and  engaged  his  influence  in  his  favor.  The  British  sloop  of  war 
Acteon,  Capt.  Lord  Edward  Russel,  arrived  on  the  23d,  and  the  Bonite 
sailed  the  next  day.  Lord  Russel  negotiated  a  treaty,  securing  to  Brit- 
ish subjects  the  right  to  come  and  reside  and  build  houses  on  the 
Islands.*  The  king  refused  to  sign  the  treaty,  till  Lord  Russel  agreed 
that  it  should  not  be  understood  to  authorize  landing  and  building  with- 
out the  king's  consent ;  but  this  proviso  does  not  seem  to  have  been  ex- 
pressed clearly,  if  at  all,  in  the  written  document.    The  treaty  was  signed 

*  The  author  has  not  been  able  to  find  a  copy  of  this  treaty. 


352  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

November  16.  Mr.  Walsh  informed  his  employers,  that  M.  Valliant 
procured  permission  for  him  to  remain  on  the  Islands,  on  condition  that 
he  should  make  no  attempts  to  propagate  his  religion ;  and  also,  that  he 
violated  that  condition  whenever  he  had  a  secret  opportunity. 

On  the  3d  of  November,  M.  Bachelot  wrote  to  his  employers,  that 
he  was  about  to  return  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  had  found  a  ship 
that  was  willing  to  carry  him.  If  not  allowed  to  land,  as  he  thought 
probable,  he  intended  to  live  on  board  the  various  vessels  in  port,  where 
he  could  have  free  intercourse  with  his  converts.  He  and  Mr.  Short 
embarked  on  board  the  Clementine  on  the  28th  of  March,  1837.  Mr. 
Short,  in  an  account  written  some  time  afterwards,  says  they  were  en- 
couraged by  the  treaty  with  Lord  Russel,  and  by  the  king's  promises  to 
Capt.  Valliant.  That  treaty,  however,  was  not  made  till  after  their  de- 
termination had  been  formed,  and  there  is  much  reason  to  doubt  whether 
the  promises  were  ever  made  at  all.  According  to  Mr.  Short's  account, 
their  plan  was,  that  he  should  land  secretly,  keep  concealed  for  a  time, 
and  then  claim  a  right  to  remain  under  the  treaty  ;  while  M.  Bachelot 
should  attempt  to  land  openly  and  remain  there  if  possible  ;  but  if  not, 
should  go  on  to  the  South  Pacific  or  Valparaiso. 

They  arrived  at  Honolulu,  on  the  17th  of  April,  1837.  Mr.  Short, 
according  to  the  account  of  one  of  his  partisans,  landed  openly,  in  the 
presence  ofKekuanaoa,  then  Governor  of  Oahu,  and  ofthousandsof  the 
natives.  According  to  his  own  account,  he  landed  in  disguise,  and  took 
a  by-path  to  their  mission  house,  to  escape  the  notice  of  Kekuanaoa,  and 
M.  Bachelot  landed  openly  some  hours  afterwards.  The  king  states, 
that  Kekuanaoa  was  not  informed  of  their  arrival  till  the  next  day.  As 
soon  as  he  heard  of  their  arrival,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  ask,  "  Are  you  twO' 
to  dwell  here  on  shore  ?"  They  replied  that  they  were  not ;  that  they 
intended  to  stop  only  for  a  few  days,  till  they  could  find  a  vessel  to  carry 
them  away. 

The  Clementine,  though  saiUng  under  the  British  flag,  was  the 
property  of  M.  Jules  Dudoit,  a  Frenchman,  who  has  since  been  appoint- 
ed French  consul  at  Honolulu.  She  had  been  chartered  by  an  Ameri- 
can, for  a  voyage  to  California.  Kekuanaoa  told  the  Captain  that  he 
must  take  "  the  Frenchmen"  on  board  again.  He  refused,  alleging 
that  the  vessel  was  not  then  under  his  control,  but  under  that  of  the 
owner.  M.  Dudoit  was  next  called  upon  to  receive  them  on  board,  but 
refused,  because  he  had  no  control  over  the  vessel  when  they  came. 
Yet  the  cargo  was  not  discharged,  and  the  Captain  continued  in  com- 
mand. This  convinced  the  government  that  "  they  wrought  craftily." 
Meanwhile,  on  the  18th,  the  day  after  their  landing,  Kekuanaoa  sent 
for  them.  Only  M.  Bachelot  attended ;  and  was  told  that  they  must 
return  immediately  on  board  the  vessel  that  brought  them.  It  is  stated 
in  the  pamphlet  ascribed  to  Mr.  Jones,  then  American  consul,  that  "  M. 
Bachelot  was  then  directed  to  sign  a  document  handed  him,  acknow- 
ledging that  himself  and  Mr.  Short  had  been  banished  before  for  excit- 
ing rebellion  in  the  country,"  but  he  refused  to  sign  it. 


1837.]  THE   JESUITS   OnOERED    AWAY.  353 

The  king  had  gone,  on  the  12th,  to  Maui,  with  the  body  of  his  de- 
ceased sister,  Nahienaena.  On  the  26th,  he  received  a  despatch  from 
Kekuanaoa,  informing  him  of  these  events.  After  consulting  his  coun- 
cil, he  sanctioned  the  governor's  decision,  that  the  priests  must  forth- 
with return  on  board  the  vessel  which  brought  them ;  "  for  should  they 
remain  here  only  a  little  time,  they  would  not  go  at  all, — as  their  de- 
signs were  well  understood, — and  we  should  again  be  put  to  expense  on 
their  account."  On  the  29th,  he  issued  his  proclamation,  declaring  that 
"  the  rejection  of  those  men  is  perpetual,"  and  requiring  their  return  to 
the  Clementine.  The  next  day,  Kinau  returned  with  the  proclamation 
to  Honolulu.  The  next  day,  she  communicated  the  king's  decision  to 
M.  Bachelot.  He  replied,  "  I  did  not  come  here  to  stay,  but  to  get  an 
opportunity  to  go  to  Valparaiso.  If  I  obtain  it,  then  I  will  leave." 
She,  however,  insisted  that  he  should  return  to  the  Clementine.  She 
afterwards  had  repeated  interviews  with  M.  Bachelot,  all  of  which 
were  to  the  same  effect,  and  with  M.  Dudoit,  who  consented  to  receive 
them  on  board,  if  they  would  pay  their  passage  to  California.  She  at 
last  observed,  that  whenever  she  sent  for  "  the  Frenchmen,"  only  M. 
Bachelot  made  his  appearance.  On  inquiry,  she  learned  that  Mr. 
Charlton,  through  whom  the  message  was  conveyed,  professed  not  to 
know  any  other  person  for  whom  it  was  intended.  She  therefore  sent 
Mr.  Charlton  a  note,  requesting  to  see  "  the  associate  of  the  French- 
man." Charlton  replied,  "  I  know  of  no  partner  of  the  Frenchman." 
She  finally  sent  an  officer,  with  such  explicit  instructions  that  Mr.  Short 
made  his  appearance.  He  professed  to  doubt  whether  the  king's  proc- 
lamation was  intended  for  him,  as  he  was  not  a  Frenchman,  though  he 
acknowledged  that  he  was  one  of  the  two  who  had  been  sent  to  Cali- 
fornia under  that  title.  He  urged  that  the  treaty  with  Lord  Russel 
gave  him  a  right  to  dwell  on  the  Islands ;  but  was  told  by  the  chiefs, 
that  the  treaty  related  only  to  those  who  had  the  king's  consent,  which 
had  never  been  given  to  him.  They  both  refused  to  go  on  board  the 
Clementine,  and  M.  Dudoit  refused  to  receive  them  unless  they  paid 
their  passage  to  California. 

At  length,  INIay  18,  M.  Dudoit  informed  Kekuanaoa  that  the  Clem- 
entine was  to  sail  on  the  22d,  which  would  be  Monday.  A  council  was 
held,  and  it  was  resolved  to  put  the  priests  on  board  on  the  20th.  On 
that  day,  two  officers  called  upon  them.  M.  Bachelot  asked  them, 
"  What  is  the  word  ?"  "  To  go,"  was  the  answer.  Bachelot  asked, 
"  With  force  ?"  The  officer  replied,  "  Yes,  with  force."  He  and  Mr. 
Short  then  drew  up  formal  protests,  before  the  British  Consul,  against 
the  violence  done  to  their  persons.  During  the  preparation  of  the  pro- 
tests, the  consul  told  the  officers  that  the  vessel  was  "  tabu"  and  that  if 
any  one  went  on  board  of  her,  he  would  be  shot ;  adding,  "  Come  on, 
come  on  !  You  can't  take  them  away.  You  are  cowards."  These 
words  were  reported  to  Kinau,  who,  with  her  advisers,  agreed  that  if  the 
consul  should  shoot  and  kill  any  person,  he  would  be  guilty  of  murder; 
in  which  case  they  would  remain  quiet  at  the  time,  and  afterwards  seek 

45 


354  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1837. 

redress  in  a  legal  way.  When  the  protests  were  finished,  the  priests 
walked  down  to  the  wharf.  Here  they  stopped.  Being  urged  to  step 
into  the  boat,  one  of  them  said,  "Touch  us,  touch  us."  "Then,"  says 
the  king,  "  Palu  took  hold  of  M.  Bachelot,  and  he  went  into  the  boat ; 
then  he  took  hold  of  Mr.  Short,  and  he  went  into  the  boat."  On  arriv- 
ing at  the  vessel's  side,  they  were  forbidden  by  the  mate  to  go  on  board, 
and  returned  to  the  shore  for  further  orders.  M.  Dudoit  then  went  on 
board  and  assumed  the  command.  When  the  boat  approached  the  second 
time,  he  ordered  them  off;  but  they  persisted  in  their  attempt.  He,  seeing 
that  some  of  the  guns  ofthe  fort  were  pointed  towards  his  vessel, — as  from 
the  construction  of  the  fort  ^nd  position  of  his  vessel,  they  must  point, 
unless  their  muzzles  were  turned  inwards, — and  that  men  were  standing 
by  with  lighted  matches,  which  was  not  the  fact  ;*  to  save  the  effusion 
of  blood,  refrained  from  further  opposition,  and  the  priests  were  put  on 
board.  He  then  sent  his  crew  on  shore,  hauled  down  his  flag,  and  car- 
ried it  to  Mr.  Charlton,  who  publicly  committed  it  to  the  flames.  M. 
Dudoit  then  made  his  protest  before  the  British  consul,  stating  that  the 
Clementine  had  been  forcibly  seized  by  the  Sandwich  Islands  govern- 
ment, and  demanding  fifty  thousand  dollars  as  damages.  This  was  the 
point  to  which  the  priests,  the  consul  and  the  owner  had  all  along  been 
laboring  to  bring  the  affair,  in  order  to  involve  the  government  in  diffi- 
culty with  some  foreign  power.  May  31,  Mr.  Charlton  informed  the 
king  that  he  had  sent  Mr.  Short's  protest  to  England,  and  that  he,  tbe 
American  consul,f  and  M.  Bachelot  should  soon  send  documents  to  Val- 
paraiso, for  the  naval  commanders  of  their  respective  governments  on 
that  station. 

July  7,  the  British  sloop  of  war  Sulphur,  Capt.  Belcher,  arrived  at 
Honolulu.^  The  next  day,  Mr.  Short  applied  to  Capt.  Belcher,  to  lib- 
erate him  from  his  imprisonment  on  board  the  Clementine.  Capt.  Bel- 
cher demanded  of  the  government,  permission  for  the  priests  to  land. 
And  threatened,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  land  them  by  force.  Kinau  urged 
him  to  wait  and  hear  both  parties;  but  he  declared  that  he  "  must  fol- 
low the  statements  of  the  consul."  On  the  10th,  the  French  frigate  La 
Venus,  Capt.  Dupetit  Thouars,  arrived.  Both  Captains  demanded  the 
instant  "  liberation"  ofthe  priests,  whom  they  represented  as  imprisoned 
on  board  the  Clementine.  Not  obtaining  permission  for  the  priests  to 
land,  they  proceeded  to  the  wharf,  an  officer  and  body  of  marines  from 
the  Sulphur  was  sent  in  a  boat  to  the  Clementine,  and  brought  them  to 
land ;  after  which   both  commanders  escorted  them  to  their  mission 

*  Though  M.  Dudoit  made  oath  before  the  British  consul  that  he  saw  these 
things,  yet  he  afterwards  acknowledged  to  Kinau  tliat  he  did  not  actually  see 
thera  with  his  own  eyes,  but  his  ciiief  mate  saw  them. 

t  An  American  had  goods  on  board  the  Clementine. 

I  If  this  was  in  consequence  of  any  request  sent  from  the  Islands  to  Valpa- 
raiso, that  request  must  have  been  sent  immediately  after  the  arrival  of  the 
priests  from  California ;  or  perhaps  even  earlier,  in  expectation  of  their  arrival. 
Mr.  Walsh's  "  pleasant  voyage"  from  Valparaiso  to  Honolulu  occupied  39 
days. 


1837.]  DIFFICULTIES  "WITH   THE   ROMAN   CATHOLICS.  355 

house.     The  English  flag  was  now  hoisted  on  board  the  Clementine,  as 
if  she  were  a  recaptured  vessel, 

Capt.  Belcher  sent  the  Clementine  to  Maui,  for  the  king,  who  arriv- 
ed on  the  20th.  The  next  day,  he  gave  audience  to  the  two  command- 
ers. The  interview  was  an  unpleasant  one.  Mr.  Bingham  attended  as 
the  king's  interpreter.  The  Captains  refused  to  communicate  through 
him,  and  put  forward  a  man  of  their  own  selection,  who  succeeded  so 
poorly,  that  the  king  was  frequently  obliged  to  ask  Mr.  Bingham  to  ex- 
plain his  interpretations.  At  last,  Mr.  Andrews  was  called,  and  Mr. 
Bingham  retired  to  the  back  part  of  the  room.  Lest  he  should  govern 
the  king  and  chiefs  by  a  look,  one  of  the  officers  placed  himself  directly 
before  him,  crowding  him  back  against  the  wall.  Mr.  Bingham  stepped 
aside,  and  the  officer  again  stepped  before  him.  As  he  stepped  aside 
again,  the  officer  turned  suddenly  on  his  heel,  so  as  to  strike  him  a  vio- 
lent blow  with  his  elbow.  Seeing  this,  John  li,  one  of  the  king's 
council,  placed  himself  resolutely  between  them,  and  kept  them  apart, 
till  the  king  ordered  in  a  file  of  armed  men,  who  prevented  further 
disturbance.*  Capt.  Belcher  pledged  himself  that  Mr.  Short  should 
leave  the  Islands  by  the  first  opportunity,  and  meanwhile  should  obey 
the  laws  of  the  kingdom  ;  that  is,  should  not  teach  his  religion.  Capt. 
Dupetit  Thouars  pledged  himself  that  M.  Bachelot  should  leave  by 
the  first  opportunity,  and  meanwhile  should  not  preach.  The  king  then 
gave  his  consent  that  they  should  remain  on  shore. 

On  the  23d,  the  king  signed  an  explanatory  treaty,  in  which  he  as- 
sented to  the  English  interpretation  of  the  treaty  with  Lord  Russel,  so 
far  as  to  allow  British  subjects  to  land  without  previously  obtaining  the 
king's  consent,  and  to  remain  while  obedient  to  the  laws  of  the  king- 
dom, and  that  none  should  be  expelled  without  a  fair  trial.  On  the 
24th,  he  signed  a  treaty  with  Capt.  Dupetit  Thouars,  securing  to  French 
subjects  "  the  same  advantages  which  subjects  of  the  most  favored  na- 
tions enjoy."  These  treaties,  of  course,  did  not  secure  the  right  of 
teaching  the  Romish  religion,  which  the  laws  forbade.  On  the  24th, 
both  vessels  left  the  Islands. 

September  24,  the  British  ship  of  war  Imogene,  Capt.  Bruce,  arrived 
from  Valparaiso.  It  had  been  reported  at  the  Islands,  that  a  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  and  three  priests  were  soon  to  arrive  from  that  port,  and 
that  they  would  not  be  allowed  to  land.  M.  Dudoit,  who  was  then  act- 
ing as  French  Consul,  applied  to  Capt.  Bruce  to  procure  permission  for 
them  to  come  on  shore,  pledging  himself  that  they  should  leave  by  the 
first  opportunity  for  the  place  of  their  destination ;  but  Capt.  Bruce  re- 
plied that  he  should  not  feel  himself  justified  in  interfering.     There  is 

*  During  this  interview,  one  of  the  naval  officers,  stepping  up  to  Mr.  Bing- 
ham, drew  his  sword  partly  from  its  sheath,  and  said,  in  a  menacing  tone,  ''  Do 
you  see  that?  Do  you  see  that?"  Mr.  Short  reports,  that  Capt.  Belcher 
threatened  to  hang  Bingham  to  the  yard-arm  of  his  vessel. 

Some  of  the  facts  concerning  this  interview  are  derived  from  the  oral  testi- 
mony of  an  eye-witness,  and  will  not  be  found  in  any  document. 


356  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1837. 

reason  to  believe  that  the  government  consulted  him  with  respect  to  the 
course  which  they  ought  to  pursue  in  case  of  their  arrival,  and  that  he 
gave  them  his  opinion  without  reserve.  October  30,*  Mr.  Short  sailed 
for  Valparaiso. 

November  2,  M.  Maigret,  pro-vicar  of  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop 
of  Nilopolis,  who  is  acting  bishop  in  this  region,  arrived  in  the  American 
ship  Europa,  Capt.  Shaw.  As  the  priests  were  expected  to  come  in 
this  ship,  she  was  not  allowed  to  anchor  on  her  first  arrival.  Kekua- 
naoa  went  on  board,  and  was  entrappedf  into  granting  her  permission 
to  enter  the  port ;  but  he  soon  discovered  that  he  had  been  deceived, 
and  that  there  was  a  French  priest  on  board,  and  withdrew  his  permis- 
sion.|  M.  Dudoit  applied  to  Kinau,  stating  that  M.  Maigret  had  come 
from  Valparaiso,  was  to  remain  only  transitorily,  would  give  no  religious 
instruction,  would  observe  the  laws  during  his  stay,  and  would  leave  by 
the  first  favorable  opportunity  for  the  Marquesas  Islands.  He  refused, 
however,  to  give  any  pecuniary  security  for  the  fulfilment  of  these  con- 
ditions, or  to  name  a  day  beyond  which  M.  Maigret's  stay  should  not  be 
protracted.  He  urged  the  treaty  with  Capt.  Dupetit  Thouars,  as  a  rea- 
son for  granting  this  request.  Kinau  replied,  that  "  on  account  of  for- 
mer difficuhies  and  dissensions,  [meaning  the  insurrection  under  Liliha,] 
Roman  Catholic  priests  w^ere  excluded  from  the  country;  that  both 
Capt.  Valliant  and  Dupetit  Thouars  had  assented  to  this  rule,  which 
showed  that  the  treaty  did  not  apply  to  them  ;  that  M.  Maigret  at  first 
concealed  his  country  and  priesthood,  and  when  detected,  pretended  that 
he  was  on  his  way  to  the  Marquesas  Islands,  though  the  Europa  was 
last  from  the  Society  Islands,  to  which  he  must  go  directly  back,  in 
order  to  reach  the  Marquesas ;  that,  therefore,  she  could  not  by  any 
means  confide  in  his  word;  that  M.  Dudoit  had  refused  to  give  any  suf- 
ficient guarantee  for  his  departure ;  and  that,  for  these  reasons,  M. 
Maigret  could  not  be  allowed  to  land.  M.  Maigret  and  M.  Bachelot 
then  purclrased  a  small  schooner  for  three  thousand  dollars ;  thinking 
that  it  would  be  very  useful  in  their  future  operations  in  the  Pacific. 
November  23,  M.  Bachelot  w^ent  on  board,  and  the  schooner  sailed.  As 
his  health  was  feeble,  it  was  thought  that  a  voyage  would  improve  it. 
At  first,  he  seemed  better  for  the  change ;  but  soon  began  rapidly  to  de- 
cline, and  died  on  the  4th  of  December.  On  the  14th,  he  was  buried 
on  the  Island  of  Ascension. 

One  Roman  Catholic  priest,  Mr.  Walsh,  still  remained  at  Honolulu. 
As  he  was  a  British  subject ;  as  he  had  not  been  engaged  in  Liliha's 

*  Mr.  Short  says,  November  2  ;  which  is  probably  a  mistake. 

t  "  Surprit"  is  M.  Maigret's  word.  See  "  Annals  de  la  Propagation  de  la 
Foi,"  for  May,  1840,  French  edition.  The  English  edition  does  not  contain  M. 
Maigret's  account  of  this  duplicity. 

X  M.  Maigret  asserts,  that  on  being  questioned  by  Kekuanaoa,  he  frankly 
avowed  that  he  was  a  French  priest ;  that  some  on  board  were  angry  with  him 
for  it;  that  Kekuanaoa  professed  to  believe  him  guilty  of  an  attempt  at  decep- 
tion ;  and  that  this  was  a  reason  why  he  was  not  allowed  to  land. 


1837.]  THE   CATHOLIC   RELIGION   REJECTED.  357 

conspiracy,  having  arrived  since  its  suppression  ;  and  as  he  violated  the 
law  against  propagating  Romanism  only  when  he  could  do  it  without 
detection,  he  was  suffered  to  remain. 

December  IS,  the  king  published  "  An  ordinance,  rejecting  the 
Catholic  Religion."  The  preamble  mentions  the  seditious  move- 
ments in  the  time  of  Kaahumanu,  the  banishment  of  the  priests  for 
the  part  they  took  in  those  movements,  and  the  "  increased  trouble  on 
account  of  those  who  follow  the  pope,"  which  had  just  been  suffered, 
all  showing  the  tendency  of  the  Romish  faith  "  to  set  man  against 
man"  in  the  kingdom.  The  ordinance  therefore  forbids  all  persons, 
natives  or  foreigners,  to  teach  or  assist  in  teaching  that  faith  in  any 
part  of  the  kingdom.  It  also  forbids  the  landing  of  any  teacher  of  that 
faith,  except  in  cases  of  absolute  necessity.  In  such  a  case,  a  priest 
*'  shall  be  permitted  in  writing  to  dwell  for  a  season  on  shore,  on  his 
giving  bonds  and  security  for  the  protection  of  the  kingdom."  It  also 
prescribes  the  mode  of  enforcing  this  law,  and  the  penalties  for  trans- 
gression. 

The  American  missionaries  have  been  falsely  accused  of  directing 
these  operations  of  the  government,  and  of  procuring  the  passage  of 
this  ordinance.  The  falsehood  of  that  charge  will  be  fully  shown  in 
the  history  of  the  year  1839.* 

*  See  the  authorities  cited  on  page  *  .  The  French  edition  of  the  annals 
must  be  used,  as  the  English  is  not  always  a  faithful  translation  ofit.  Where 
documents  vary  a  day  or  two  in  respect  to  dates,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  the 
dates  in  the  king's  letter  to  William  IV.  have  been  given. 

That  letter  contains  a  testimony  too  important  to  be  omitted  ;  that  of  Capt. 
Thomas  Ap  Catesby  Jones,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy.  Capt.  Jones  says  :  "  I  happen 
to  know  something  of  the  origin  of  the  Catholics'  attempting  to  establish 
themselves  at  Oahu.  It  is  the  work  of  a  British  agent  at  Honolulu,  to  over- 
throw the  Ameiycan  missionaries.  That  man  did  not  conceal  his  sending  to 
Europe  for  Catholic  missionaries.  He  speaks  ofit  openly  there  ;  and  stated 
to  me,  that  the  pomp  and  show  of  the  Catholic  ceremonies,  their  holydaysand 
Sabbath  feasts,  would  so  take  with  the  natives,  that  a  short  time  would  be 
sufficient  to  expel  all  other  missionaries." 


358  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1838. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

1838. — A  Secretary  stationed  at  New  York. — Missionary  House  commenced. 
— Meeting  at  Portland. — Resolve  to  send  ont  missionaries. — Return  of  Mis- 
sionaries.— Interference  of  Societies. — Qualifications  of  Missionaries. — Ger- 
man Reformed  Church. — Central  and  Southern  Boards. — JVIahrattas. — 
Whole  Bible  printed. — Mr.  Stone  leaves  the  mission. — Madras. — Presses 
purchased. — Schools. — Grant  from  government. — Subscriptions. — Madura. 
— New  stations. — Ceylon. —  Retrenchments.  — Mr.  Perry's  statement  and 
death. — Reiiei". — China.— Medical  Missionary  Society. — Siam. — Tract  dis- 
tribution.— Inquirers. — Singapore. — Progress  of  the  Seminary. — Baptisms. 
— Borneo. — Preparations  to  commence  the  mission. — Greece. — Argos  re- 
linquished.— Turkey. — Progress  of  piety  at  Constantinople. — School  at  Hass 
Koy  broken  up.— Magazines  of  Useful  Knowledge  published  at  Smyrna. 
— Progress  at  Broosa. — Syria. — Travels  of  Mr.  Smith  and  Prof  Robinson. 
— Arabic  type. — Awakening  and  conversions  among  the  Druzes. — Persia. — 
Continued  encouragement  among  the  Nestorians. — Mr.  Merrick  at  Tabriz. 
— He  is  requested  to  establish  schools  not  Christian. — West  Africa. — Ad- 
missions to  the  church. — Printing. — Zulu  mission  broken  up  by  war. — In- 
dian missions. — Cherokees  removed. — Oregon  mission  strengthened  and 
successful. — Sandwich  Islands. — The  great  revival. 

Agreeably  to  a  resolution  of  the  Board  adopted  last  year,  the  Rev. 
W.  J.  Armstrong,  Secretary  for  Domestic  Correspondence,  removed  to 
New  York  about  the  first  of  April ;  the  Prudential  Committee  having  re- 
solved that  he  should  make  that  city  his  principal  residence  till  a  differ- 
ent arrangement  shoukl  be  adopted.  One  of  the  detained  missionaries 
was  placed  temporarily  in  his  apartment  in  the  Missionary  Rooms  at 
Boston,  with  whom  he  was  to  be  in  constant  correspondence;  and  he 
was  expected  personally  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  Committee,  as 
often  as  should  be  necessary  for  the  perfect  knowledge  and  supervision 
of  his  department. 

A  Missionary  House  was  commenced,  the  expense  being  met  from 
the  permanent  funds  of  the  Board.  Those  funds  had  been  mostly  invest- 
ed in  bank  stock,  and  comparatively  little  had  yet  been  lost ;  but  recent 
events  had  shown,  throughout  the  commercial  world,  that  real  estate,  at 
a  fair  price,  was  a  safer  kind  of  property.  The  lease  of  the  Missionary 
Rooms  in  Cornh'll  was  about  to  expire,  and  for  various  reasons,  another 
place  must  be  procured  for  the  business  of  the  Board.  A  site  for  a 
building,  combining,  in  a  very  unusual  degree,  the  seemingly  incompa- 
tible advantages  of  salubrity,  retirement  and  proximity  to  the  centre  of 
business,  was  offered  for  sale.  The  time  was  advantageous  for  purchas- 
ing and  building.  No  money  was  used  for  the  purpose,  which  the 
Board  was  at  liberty  to  expend  in  sending  out  or  supporting  missionaries. 
The  house  is  a  part  of  the  permanent  fund. 

The  annual  meeting  was  held  at  Portland,  on  the  12th,  13th  and 


1838.]  RESOLVE    TO   SEND   OUT   MISSIONARIES,  359 

14th  of  September.  The  receipts  from  the  large  cities,  where  the  pe- 
cuniary pressure  had  been  chiefly  felt,  had  been  much  less  than  the  year 
previous;  but  in  the  smaller  towns  and  country  places  tliey  had  greatly 
increased.  The  whole  sum  received  had  been  about  $236,000  of 
$16,000  less  than  the  last  year.  Of  the  payments,  a  large  part  had 
been  to  meet  expenses  incurred  before  the  curtailing  circular  of  June  23, 
1837,  could  take  effect.  They  had  amounted  to  more  than  $230,000, 
being  nearly  $24,000  less  than  the  last  year.  The  debt  was  reduced 
below  $36,000.  The  missions  had  also  expended  $12,000  for  the 
Bible  Society  and  $5,000  for  the  Tract  Society;  so  that  the  whole  sum 
had  been  more  than  $247,000. 

For  the  coming  year,  if  the  debt  was  to  be  paid,  the  missions  enabled 
to  resume  the  progressive  operations  they  had  suspended,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries under  appointments  to  be  sent  out,  $300,000  would  be  needed. 
In  view  of  the  apparent  spirit  of  the  churches,  the  state  and  prospects  of 
the  country,  and  especially  of  the  importance  of  these  objects,  the  Board 
resolved  to  make  the  attempt.  A  resolution  was  adopted,  informing  the 
detained  missionaries  that  they  might  expect  to  be  sent  out  at  no  distant 
day,  and  another,  rescinding  the  vote  of  last  year,  that  remittances 
should  not  be  increased  till  all  appointed  missionaries  had  been  sent  out. 

The  rule  adopted  last  year,  concerning  the  return  of  missionaries, 
was  modified,  so  as  to  allow  their  return,  with  the  consent  of  their  mis- 
sions, when  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  health. 

The  subject  of  the  interference  of  missionary  societies  with  each 
other's  operations  was  brought  up  by  a  letter  from  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society,  with  which  there  had  been  correspondence  on  the  subject. 
It  was  found  desirable  by  the  principal  English  Societies,  to  adopt  mea- 
sures for  avoiding  the  evils  that  arise,  when  two  missions,  of  different 
sects,  are  brought  to  bear  on  the  same  heathen  individuals,  thus  creat- 
ing, as  the  Hindoos  say,  "  two  bazaars,"  or  markets,  between  which  the 
attention  of  the  heathen  is  distracted.  The  Committee  were  directed  to 
seek,  in  their  correspondence  with  other  societies,  the  accomplishment 
of  this  desirable  object.  This  was  introducing  no  new  principle.  From 
its  very  commencement,  the  Boaid  had  been  careful  to  establish  its  mis- 
sions among  those  to  whom  Christ  was  not  preached  by  others.  It  has 
never  established  a  mission  where  it  could  interfere  with  the  known  ope- 
rations of  any  Protestant  society  ;  while  at  le£st  seventeen  missions  have 
been  established  by  eight  societies,  in  the  vicinity  of  twelve  older  mis- 
sions of  the  Board.  The  consequences  have  been  the  less  injurious,  be- 
cause, in  some  instances,  though  not  in  all,  the  excellent  character  of 
the  men  composing  both  the  older  and  the  younger  missions,  has  al- 
most entirely  kept  off,  to  the  present  time,  the  natural  results  of  such  in- 
terference. 

The  qualifications  of  missionaries  was  another  topic  taken  up  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Committee.  There  was  found  to  be  an  increasing 
readiness  in  those  who  had  not  the  necessary  combmation  of  talents, 
mental  discipline,  piety,  discretion,  temper  and  health,  to  offer  them- 


360  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1838. 

selves,  and  in  others,  to  recommend  them.  Resolutions  were  adopted, 
intended  to  guard  against  this  evil.  It  was  thought  desirable  even  to 
raise  the  terms  of  admission  into  the  number  of  missionaries.  The  whole 
history  of  the  Board,  and  it  might  be  added,  of  missions,  of  Christianity, 
and  of  the  world,  had  shown,  that  no  extensive  revolution  can  be  effect- 
ed in  any  community,  without  the  aid  of  a  powerful  native  agency. 
Wherever  the  success  of  the  Board  had  been  at  all  considerable,  native 
helpers  had  borne  an  important  part.  It  was  evidently  best,  as  far  as 
practicable,  to  send  forth  only  leading  minds,  and  to  find  the  "  opera- 
tives" among  the  converts. 

This  year  the  Synod  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  the  United 
States  formed  a  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  proposed  to  act  through  the 
American  Board,  on  the  same  plan  as  does  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  plan  will  probably  go  into  operation. 
Southern  auxiiiiriei.  The  Central  and  Southern  Boards,  near  the  close  of  this 
year,  transferred  their  auxiliary  relation  to  the  new  Board,  formed 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  was  desired 
by  some,  that  the  Prudential  Committee  should  at  the  same  time  trans- 
fer several  of  its  missionaries,  who  were  originally  from  the  South,  to 
the  Assembly's  Board.  But  this  the  Committee  could  not  do,  except 
by  dismissing  them  at  their  own  request.  None  had  requested  it,  and 
some  had  expressed  an  unwillingness  to  be  transferred.  They  were 
so  mingled,  too,  with  other  missionaries,  that  the  transfer  could  not  be 
made,  without  placing  members  of  the  same  mission  under  the  direction 
of  different  Boards.  Other  difficulties  would  have  arisen,  in  respect  to 
the  missionary  property  at  such  stations.  No  such  transfer,  therefore, 
was  attempted.  A  new  organization,  auxihary  to  the  Board,  was  soon 
formed,  having  its  agency  at  Richmond,  Va. 

Mahraua  Missions.  At  Bofflbay,  printing  at  the  expense  of  the  mission  was 
discontinued  early  in  the  year,  for  want  of  funds.  The  press,  however, 
was  usefully  employed  at  the  expense  of  other  societies.  Its  great  labor, 
this  year,  was  on  an  edition  of  the  whole  Bible  in  Mahratta,  translated 
by  members  of  several  missions,  and  revised  by  Mr.  Allen,  who  was 
the  Mission's  editorial  superintendent  of  the  press,  and  had  been  chosen 
a  member  of  the  Committee  of  the  Bombay  Bible  Society.  Mr.  Web- 
ster was  engaged  in  preparing  a  font  of  Mahratta  type,  on  a  better 
and  more  economical  plan  than  any  yet  in  use. 

In  June,  Mr.  Stone  withdrew  from  the  mission,  and  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  The  Prudential  Committee,  on 
being  informed  of  the  fact,  voted  to  consider  his  relation  to  the  Board 
as  having  ceased  from  the  time  when  he  withdrew  from  its  service. 

At  Malcolm  Peth,  two  Chinese,  a  Mahratta  man  and  two  Muham- 
medan  women  were  received  into  the  church  early  in  the  year.  One 
of  the  women  soon  apostatized. 

The  schools  at  Bombay,  Ahmednuggur  and  Jalna  received  impor- 
tant aid  from  European  Christians  residing  in  their  vicinity,  who 
gave  liberally  to  sustain  them  through  the  season  of  pecuniary  embar- 


1838.]  TAMUL   MISSION.S  361 

rassraent.  At  Ahmednuggur,  in  September,  there  were  seven  common 
schools,  20  girls  in  the  female  boarding  school,  and  50  boys  who  were 
boarding  scholars  in  the  seminary.  This  number  of  boarders  shows 
that  the  rules  of  caste  were  losing  their  power  over  the  people. 

The  mission  at  Madras  was  designed  to  be,  like  that  at  xamui  MUsion.. 
Smyrna,  mainly  a  book  manufactory.  Unexpectedly,  it  """"" 
■was  enabled  to  purchase,  on  advantageous  terms,  of  the  Church  Mli>sion- 
ary  Society,  eight  iron  printing  presses,  a  lithographic  press,  15  fonts 
of  type,  in  English,  Tamul  and  Teloogoo,  a  type  foundry,  and  a  book 
bindry  with  a  hidraulic  press.  A  font  of  Hindostanee  type  was  after- 
wards added. 

The  mission  had  under  its  care  16  schools,  with  500  pupils.  The 
government  granted  3000  rupees  to  sustain  these  schools  through  the 
present  distress.  The  governor  and  seven  other  gentlemen  subscribed 
for  the  same  purpose  100  rupees  each.  Not  less  than  18,000  portions 
of  Scripture  and  30,000  tracts  were  distributed  during  the  year.  The 
preaching  of  the  gospel  was  maintained  at  both  stations,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  year  there  were  several  candidates  for  admission  to  the 
church,  and  others  who  desired  to  be  considered  as  candidates. 

In  January,  the  Madura  mission  resolved  to  establish  Madura  Mission. 
three  new  stations;  and  as  soon  as  necessary  arrangements  could  be  made, 
Mr.  Cope  was  stationed  at  Sevagunga,  with  two  native  helpers,  Mr. 
Crane  at  Terupuvanum,  with  one  native  helper,  and  Mr.  Muzzy  and 
Mr.  Tracy  at  Terumungalura,  with  two  native  helpers.  There  was  now 
a  line  of  stations  extending  75  miles,  and  intersecting  most  of  the  great 
roads  in  that  region.  The  native  helpers  were  from  the  Seminary  at 
Batticotta.  One  of  them,  Francis  Asbury,  was  licensed  in  October  as  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  There  were  no  additions  to  the  church  this 
year,  but  there  was  an  evident  spread  of  an  influence  favorable  to  pure 
Christianity,  which  alarmed  its  enemies.  The  Tamul  almanac  contain- 
ed much  of  the  information  for  which  the  people  had  formerly  been 
obliged  to  resort  to  the  Brahmuns.  Many  of  them,  on  obtaining  it  and 
observing  its  contents,  said,  "This  shall  be  our  Brahmun."  The  Brah- 
muns said,  "  You  have  taken  away  our  gains,  and  how  shall  we  live  ?" 
The  Papists,  too,  were  alarmed.  To  prevent  defections,  new  priests 
were  sent  to  Dindigul,  who  announced  that  nearly  all  the  taxes  formerly 
claimed  by  their  church  w'ere  remitted,  and  the  people  released  from  the 
necessity  of  worshipping  the  Virgin. 

The  Ceylon  mission  held  its  annual  meeting  on  the  2d,  ceyio,,  Mission. 
3d,  and  4th  of  January.  It  was  found  necessary  to  reduce  the  number 
of  students  in  the  Seminary  from  151  to  100  ;  giving  up  about  one  third 
of  the  whole  number,  half  educated,  to  the  unmitigated  influence  of  their 
heathen  friends  and  neighbors.  This  reduction,  besides  its  more  di- 
rect and  obvious  evil  consequences,  was  a  serious  injury  throughout  the 
district.  Youths  in  schools  of  almost  every  kind,  even  those  supported 
by  the  government,  had  their  eyes  fixed  upon  admission  to  the  Seminary, 
and  were  shaping  their  course  of  study  so  as  to  be  prepared  for  their 

46 


362  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

examination.  The  present  reduction  gave  them  to  understand  that  they 
could  not  be  admitted ;  and  thus  their  motive  for  pursuing  a  higher  and 
more  Christian  course  of  study  was  destroyed. 

Gabriel  Tissera,  one  of  the  two  who  entered  the  service  of  the  mis- 
sion as  interpreters  at  its  first  establishment,  and  who  had  for  several 
years  been  a  useful  preacher  of  the  gospel,  died  suddenly  on  the  9th  of 
February. 

On  the  1st  of  March,  Mr.  Perry,  in  behalf  of  the  mission,  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  Committee,  giving  a  particular  account  of  the  disband- 
ing of  nearly  all  the  schools,  the  reduction  of  the  seminary  and  girls' 
school,  the  consequent  diminution  of  hearers  on  the  Sabbath,  most  of 
whom  were  obtained  by  some  form  of  influence  exerted  by  the  schools, 
the  discharge  of  native  helpers,  the  danger  of  temporal  and  eternal  per- 
dition thus  brought  upon  5000  children  of  heathen  parents,  the  discour- 
agement of  friends,  the  loss  of  influence  and  of  confidence,  caused  by  the 
want  of  funds.  The  letter  justified  the  Committee  in  requiring  the  re- 
duction, and  did  not  rebuke  the  churches,  but  entreated  them  to  consider 
the  case,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  repair  the  damage.  It  especially 
entreated  that  no  more  missionaries  might  be  sent,  till  the  means 
of  usefulness  were  restored  to  those  already  in  the  field  ;  as  the  expense 
of  one  more  family  would  oblige  them  to  close  the  printing  offce,  and 
another  would  disband  the  seminary.  On  the  tenth  of  March,  the 
cholera  removed  the  writer  to  a  better  world,  and  Mrs.  Perry  on  the 
13th.  The  appeal  was  irresistible.  It  was  immediately  published,  and 
produced  a  deep  sensation  and  liberal  donations.  The  Committee  soon 
after  wrote  to  the  mission,  increasing  its  allowance  $5000.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  island,  too,  granted  them  .£200,  nearly  $1000.  In 
November,  the  mission  appointed  a  day  of  solemn  thanksgiving  for  this 
timely  and  valuable  relief,  and  forthwith  set  about  repairing  the  injury 
that  had  been  sustained  ;  but  it  could  not  be  fully  done  at  once.  Yet 
the  number  of  free  schools,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  was  45,  with  1464 
pupils,  and  the  seminary  was  enlarged  to  148  students.  The  whole 
number  in  all  the  schools  was  2084.  Before  the  reduction,  there  had 
been  187  free  schools,  with  6996  pupils.  The  printing  establishment 
was  in  a  measure  restored  to  its  efificiency.  It  had  four  presses,  and 
gave  employment  to  70  natives,  20  of  whom  were  members  of  the 
churches,  as  many  more  were  professed  inquirers,  and  the  remainder 
appeared  to  have  no  confidence  in  idols.  Twenty-five  were^added  to  the 
seven  churches  durmg  the  year,  raising  the  number  of  members  to  319. 
Mission  to  China.  Jhe  missiouarlcs  at  Canton  and  Macao  were  slowly 

gaining  access  to  the  Chinese,  and  preparing  means  to  avail  themselves 
of  it.  The  Morrison  education  Society,  formed  by  pious  residents  at 
Canton,  supported  four  youths,  who  were  studying  under  Mr.  Bridgman. 
Dr.  Parker  had  three  or  four  Chinese  students  in  medicine  and  surgery, 
one  of  whom  had  become  an  expert  operator  in  easy  cases.  They 
were  supported  by  the  Medical  Missionary  Society.  This  society  was 
organized  in  February.     Dr.  CoHedge,  principal  British  surgeon  at 


1838.]  MISSION  TO   SIAM.      SINGAPORE   MISSION.  363 

Canton,  was  its  president,  and  afterwards  visited  the  United  States,  to 
promote  its  objects.  A  house,  sufficient  for  150  patients,  was  pur- 
chased for  it  at  Macao.  The  society  hoped,  by  promoting  a  correct 
practice  of  medicine  and  surgery  in  China,  to  save  many  Hves  and  much 
suffering ;  to  overcome  the  suspicion  and  contempt  with  which  the 
Chinese  regard  all  foreigners ;  to  -scare  favorable  opportunities  for 
imparting  religious  truth,  and  to  aid  in  procuring  free  access  for  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Chinese  empire. 

Mr.  Abeel  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  17th  of  October,  on  his 
return  to  China. 

The  climate  of  Siam  proved  unfavorable  to  the  health  Mission  to  siam. 
of  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  Mr.  Johnson  left  Bangkok  for  Singapore  in  Jan- 
uary. By  the  advice  of  physicians,  they  continued  their  voyage  in  June, 
and  arrived  at  Philadelphia  in  December,  where  she  lived  only  till  the 
8th  of  January,  1839. 

The  one  press  and  half  a  font  of  type  at  Bangkok,  were  kept  busily 
employed,  and  21,700  copies  of  eight  different  works  were  printed 
during  the  year.  Many  thousands  were  distributed.  To  avoid  unprofit- 
able ilistribution,  care  was  taken  to  give  only  to  such  as  could  read, 
and  when  one  applied  for  a  second,  he  was  required  to  give  an  account 
of  the  first.  It  was  found  that  a  large  majority  of  the  men  and  many 
of  the  women  could  read ;  and  their  accounts  of  the  contents  of  the 
books  given  them,  showerl  that  they  were  intelligible,  and  had  been 
attentively  perused.  In  September,  Dr.  Bradley  took  possession  of  a 
laige  brick  house,  which  the  Prah  Klang  had  offered  to  rent  him,  front- 
ing the  great  market,  "  the  Broadway  of  Bangkok."  Here  books  and 
tracts  were  distributed  more  advantageously  than  before;  and  towards 
the  close  of  the  year,  the  serious  and  intelligent  inquiries  of  15  or  20 
Siamese  led  Dr.  Bradley  to  hope  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  indeed  lead- 
ing them  to  the  truth.  The  dispensary,  the  school  and  labors  among 
the  Chinese  were  continued  ;  but  the  most  interesting  and  hopeful  la- 
bors were  among  the  adult  Siamese.  The  king,  the  high  priest,  and 
many  of  the  nobles,  were  increasingly  favorable  and  attentive  to  the 
mission. — Dr.  Bradley  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  November. — Mr. 
Robbins  and  Dr.  Tracy  arrived  from  Singapore  and  joined  the  mission 
in  April. 

Singapore  was  found,  for  various  reasons,  a  less  favor-  Singapore  MisBiou. 
able  site  for  extensive  influence  than  had  been  expected ;  especially 
since  the  government  of  Netherlands  India  had  resolved  to  exclude  all 
missionaries  not  from  Holland,  from  the  greater  part  of  the  countries  on 
which  the  mission  was  expected  to  act.  Still,  it  was  a  place  where 
much  valuable  labor  could  be  performed.  The  seminary,  under  Mr. 
Travelli,  commenced  the  year  with  15  scholars,  and  ended  with  22. 
Their  progress  was  quite  equal  to  what  had  been  expected.  Their 
moral  improvement  was  manifest ;  and  the  annual  report  of  the  mission 
implies,  though  it  carefully  avoids  expressing,  some  degree  of  hope  that 
some  of  them  had  been  born  again.     One  Chinese  was  baptized  in 


364  HISTORY  OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

April ;  and  in  June,  Mr,  Johnson  baptized  the  man  who  had  been  his 
Chinese  teacher  in  Siam.  The  number  of  Chinese  communicants  at 
Singapore  was  now  six.  Leang  Afa  was  laboring  with  the  Messrs. 
Stronachs,  under  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  to  them  the  dis- 
tribution of  tracts  was  almost  wholly  relinquished.  The  amount  of 
printing  was  greatly  reduced.  Several  Malay  school  books,  however, 
were  prepared  and  printed,  and  the  fonts  of  type  in  Malay  and  Siam- 
ese were  improved. 

The  Rev.  Dyer  Ball  and  Rev.  George  W.  Wood,  with  their  wives, 
embarked  at  New  York  in  May,  and  joined  this  mission  in  September. 
Netherlands  India.  Thc  Rev.  Messrs.  Frcderick  B.  Thompson  and  William 

J.  Pohlman,  with  their  wives,  sailed  from  New  York  in  May,  to  join 
the  mission  to  Netherlands  India,  and  arrived  at  Singapore,  in  Septem- 
ber. Mr.  Doty,  who  was  there,  and  Mr.  Pohlman,  proceeded  to  Sam- 
bas, on  the  western  coast  of  Borneo,  to  make  arrangements  for  com- 
mencing a  permanent  residence.  They  returned  early  in  September, 
having  spent  four  weeks  of  their  absence  in  visiting  various  settlements 
of  Malays,  Chinese,  Dyaks  and  Bugis.  About  the  close  of  the  year, 
the  members  of  the  mission  were  assembling  at  Singapore,  preparatory 
to  their  removal  to  Borneo. — During  the  summer  and  autumn,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ennis  spent  some  time  in  Bali  and  other  Islands  to  the  east  of 
Java,  of  which  little  was  previously  known. 

<^''""-  There  were  some  changes  in  the  missions  in   Greece. 

The  population  of  Argos  was  declining,  and  its  influence  diminishing. 
The  station  was  therefore  abandoned.  Mr.  Benjamin  joined  Dr.  King 
at  Athens  in  May,  and  Mr.  Riggs  removed  to  Smyrna  in  October. 

At  a  depot  opened  by  Dr.  King  at  Athens,  32,410  volumes  were 
distributed  during  the  year.  Of  these,  6,275  were  of  parts  of  the  Bible. 
Books  were  sokl,  to  the  amount  of  ^435,68.  Besides  these,  the  Mag- 
azine of  Useful  Knowledge,  published  in  Modern  Greek  at  Smyrna, 
circulated  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  about  $150  were  re- 
ceived for  it  at  Athens.  Several  priests  attended  Dr.  King's  Greek 
preaching  on  the  Sabbath.  He  taught  a  small  class  in  Hebrew  ;  and 
the  study  of  that  language  was  introduced  into  the  theological  depart- 
ment of  the  university. 

At  Ariopolis,  the  Hellenic  school,  furnished  with  excellent  Greek 
teachers,  was  giving  a  good  education  to  a  few  students.  A  good 
house  was  erected  for  a  Lancasterian  school ;  but  no  qualified  teacher 
could  yet  be  found,  who  was  not  in  the  service  of  the  government. 
In  February,  the  king  and  queen  visited  the  place.  At  the  king's  re- 
quest, the  missionaries  were  introduced  to  him.  He  afterwards  visited 
the  school,  and  expressed  his  approbation  of  the  mission.  The  de- 
scendants of  the  ancient  Spartans  were  highly  gratified,  and  boasted 
that  Otho  was  the  only  monarch  whom  they  had  ever  permitted  to 
tread  their  soil. 

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366  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

was  nearly  completed  this  year.  Copies  of  the  Psalms,  which  he  dis- 
tributed, were  anathematized  by  the  chief  Rabbi,  though  their  correct- 
ness was  not  disputed.  A  collection  of  prophecies  concerning  the  Mes- 
siah produced  no  little  excitement.  In  short,  Jewish  bigotry  was 
awake,  and  violent ;  but  there  were  encouraging  indications  of  future 
influence. — The  revival  at  Odessa  continued. 

The  Armenians.  The  good  work  of  gracc  among  the  Armenians  continued, 

with  increasing  interest ;  but  to  give  the  particulars,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  describe  the  lovely  scenes  of  domestic  felicity  in  Christian  famihes, 
the  overflowing  of  heart  among  friends  in  conversation  and  prayer  at 
their  private  interviews,  and  all  that  is  sacred  and  powerful  in  those 
parts  of  Christian  life  which  never  meet  the  eye  of  the  world  at  large. 
The  number  of  the  "  evangelical"  was  constantly  increasing,  and  in- 
telligence was  occasionally  received  of  the  existence  of  piety  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  empire.  In  1832,  Mr.  Goodell  left  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  of  the  "  Dairyman's  Daughter,"  at  Nicomedia.  After 
some  neglect,  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  priest,  who  was  excited  to 
"  search  the  Scriptures."  Another  priest  caught  the  same  spirit.  In 
time,  they  both  were  compelled  to  leave  the  place,  and  were  now  usefully 
employed  at  or  near  Constantinople  ;  but  their  influence  remained,  and 
there  was  at  Nicomedia  a  company  of  sixteen  serious  readers  of  the 
Bible,  most,  if  not  all  of  whom,  appeared  to  be  devotedly  pious.  They 
hoped  that  in  a  year  their  number  would  increase  to  a  hundred. 

The  hi2:h  school  at  Hass  Koy  prospered  during  the  former  part  of 
the  year.  Hohannes,  its  pious  Principal,  usually  spent  an  hour  daily  in 
giving  religious  instruction.  Other  studies  were  ably  taught  by  com- 
petent teachers,  under  his  direction.  Its  munificent  patron  received 
from  the  clergy  and  people  generally,  all  the  encouragement  they  could 
give  without  sharing  in  his  responsibility  for  the  existence  and  character 
of  the  school.  From  that,  they  all  carefully  stood  aloof;  and  he, 
thinking  that  so  large  an  establishment,  under  individual  patronage,  in 
addition  to  all  his  other  expenses  in  support  of  "  evangelical"  men  and 
labors,  might  attract  the  unfavorable  notice  of  the  Turkish  government, 
and  involve  him  in  difficulty,  withdrew  his  support.  The  school  then 
gradually  declined,  and  Hohannes  was  employed  in  more  direct  religious 
efforts  among  the  people,  where  his  labors  had  become  almost  indis- 
pensable. Several  Lancasterian  schools  were  established  by  the  Ar- 
menians during  the  year,  with  prospects  of  usefulness. 

Mr.  Homes  returned  from  Syria  in  July.  Mr.  Dwnght  visited  the 
United  States  in  September.  In  December,  the  Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin 
embarked  at  Boston  to  join  the  mission. 

Smyrna.  Mr.  Riggs  arrlvcd  at  Smyrna  on  the  2d  of  November, 

and  was  associated  with  Mr.  Temple  in  superintending  the  press.  The 
amount  of  printing  could  not  equal  the  demand,  for  want  of  funds  j  yet 
more  than  50,000  copies  of  different  works  were  struck  off  The 
Magazine  of  Useful  Knowledge,  in  Modern  Greek,  of  which  this  was  the 
third  year,  had  1,000  regular  subscribers.     It  was  necessary  to  print 


1838.]  SYRIA   AND   PALESTINE.  367 

2,000  copies,  and  reprint  five  of  the  numbers  for  1837.  A  similar 
work  was  commenced  in  Armenian,  of  which  about  1,500  copies  were 
printed. 

At  and  around  Broosa,  there  was  evidently  a  progress  sroo.*. 

towards  truth  and  piety,  somewhat  like  that  at  Constantinople  ;  though 
upon  a  far  smaller  scale,  and  closely  hedged  in  by  ecclesiastical  oppo- 
sition. A  pious  Swiss  merchant  had  settled  there,  who  did  much  towards 
supporting  the  three  schools  at  Philadar,  Demir  Tash  and  Kuplu.  These 
schools  contained  220  scholars.  An  enlightened  Greek  priest  at  Demir 
Tash  began  to  preach  regularly  on  the  Sabbaih.  This  was  an  impor- 
tant innovation ;  for  throughout  all  those  churches,  the  ordinary  ser- 
vice consists  merely  of  ceremonies  and  forms  of  prayer  in  an  unknown 
tongue,  and  preaching  is  rarely,  if  ever,  heard,  except  when  money  is 
to  be  raised,  or  heretics  denounced. 

The  mission  at  Trebizond  was  still  more  closely  mana-  Trebiiond. 

cled  by  the  opposition  of  the  clergy  ;  but  even  here,  prejudice  was 
yielding,  friendliness  was  increasing,  and  there  was  even  some  appear- 
ance of  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  available  force  of  the  mission  in  Syria,  was  much  syria  »nd  Paieaine. 
reduced.  Mr.  Bird  was  still  unable  to  return.  Mr.  Whiting  was  oblig- 
ed, by  the  protracted  sickness  of  his  wife,  to  visit  the  United  States. 
Mr,  Lanneau  alone  remained  at  Jerusalem,  with  Tannus  Kerem  for  an 
assistant.  A  violent  and  long  continued  inflammation  of  the  eyes  al- 
lowed him  to  labor  but  little ;  and  in  October,  both  went  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  brethren  at  Beirut,  Mr.  Smith  was  at  Smyrna  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year.  His  work  there  being  so  far  advanced  that 
Mr.  Hallock  could  complete  it,  he  left  Smyrna  in  January,  met  Profes- 
sor Robinson,  of  the  New  York  Theological  Seminary,  in  Egypt,  passed 
by  way  of  Mount  Sinai  through  the  desert  to  Jerusalem,  and  returned 
to  Smyrna  in  July.  By  their  investigations,  many  important  points, 
previously  doubtful  in  sacred  geography,  were  settled.  They  were 
present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  mission  at  Jerusalem.  While  there, 
in  consultation  with  others,  they  agreed  upon  a  uniform  system  of  or- 
thography for  Arabic  proper  names  in  Roman  letters,  which  will  probably 
be  adopted  by  the  learned  generally,  of  all  nations. 

The  punches  for  making  Arabic  type  having  been  com-  ^rawc  lype. 
pleted,  Mr.  Smith  went  with  them  to  Germany,  where  the  type  were  cast, 
under  his  superintendence,  in  the  celebrated  establishment  of  Tauchnitz, 
at  Leipsig.  This  work  had  cost  a  great  amount  of  time  and  labor ;  but 
the  importance  of  the  object  justifies  it.  Hitherto,  all  printed  books 
have  had  an  unnatural  and  unpleasant  aspect  in  the  eyes  of  an  Arab. 
They  appear  like  the  awkward  and  bungling  work  of  foreigners,  who 
know  but  very  imperfectly  how  books  should  be  made.  Hence,  they  are  far 
less  acceptable,  and  command  far  less  respect,  than  manuscripts.  While 
this  is  the  case,  the  press  never  can  exert  its  proper  influence  among 
them  as  a  people.  If,  by  these  labors,  the  mission  is  enabled  to  furnish 
printed  books  acceptable  to  the  Arab  taste,  it  will  be  scarce  less  irapor- 


368  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

tant  to  the  numerous  millions  in  Asia  and  Africa  who  speak  the  Arabic 
language,  than  was  the  invention  of  printing  to  the  nations  of  Europe. 
And  even  if  this  object  is  not  obtained,  the  structure  of  the  new  type  is 
such  as  will  save  much  labor,  and  diminish  the  Hability  to  error  in  Arabic 
printing. 

^<=""^-  The  mission  at  Beirut,  reduced  in  numbers  and  strait- 

ened for  funds,  was  called  upon  for  an  unusual  amount  of  labor.  On 
the  first  day  of  the  year,  Kasim,  the  Drnze  who  once  had  been  impris- 
oned for  becoming  a  Christian,  was  received  as  a  member  of  the  church. 
His  wife  was  received  at  the  same  time,  and  their  children  were  baptized. 
Religious  instruction  was  given  without  reserve  in  the  seminary.  The 
Arabic  congregation  on  the  Sabbath  inereased.  A  native  assistant  was 
employed  to  travel  on  the  mountains,  distribute  books  and  tracts,  and 
converse  on  religion.  An  increased  number  of  books  were  received  by 
the  people,  in  defiance  of  fierce  opposition  from  priests,  bishops  and 
patriarchs ;  and  even  some  of  the  native  clergy  encouraged  the  work. 
Several  Papal  priests,  from  different  parts  ot  the  country,  and  strang- 
ers to  each  other,  avowed  to  the  missionaries  their  evangelical  senti- 
ments, their  disgust  with  the  abominations  of  their  own  church,  and 
their  desire  to  escape  from  it.  One  of  them  said  that  he  knew  four 
others,  who  were  of  the  same  mind.  It  is  remarkable,  that  they  were 
all  afraid  of  being  poisoned  by  their  own  clergy  for  heresy.  Several, 
also,  among  the  Greeks,  especially  the  bishop  of  'Akkar,  near  Tripoli, 
appeared  evangelical  in  their  views,  and  cordial  in  their  friendship. 

But  the  most  encouraging  prospects  were  among  the  Druzes.  When 
Kasim  and  his  household  were  baptized,  it  w^as  not  without  apprehen- 
sion that  he  might  be  called  to  suffer  martyrdom.  Of  this  he  was  fore- 
warned ;  but  he  remained  firm,  and  no  enemy  ever  attempted  to  have 
him  punished  as  an  apostate.  It  thus  came  to  be  understood  that  Druzes 
might  not  only  visit  the  missionaries,  and  adopt  and  defend  their  doc- 
trines, but  receive  baptism  from  them,  without  molestation  from  gov- 
ernment. They  resorted  more  and  more  to  the  mission  for  instruction. 
They  invited  Mr.  Thomson  to  visit  their  villages,  and  to  open  schools 
and  places  of  worship  among  them.  They  applied  for  the  admission  of 
their  sons  into  the  seminary  ;  and  one  of  the  young  sheikhs  was  admit- 
ted, his  friends  paying  the  expense.  Some  of  them  corresponded  with 
Mr.  Thomson  by  letter  ;  and  some  came  to  Beirut  to  reside,  while  re- 
ceiving Christian  instruction.  The  papists  were  anxious  to  baptize  them, 
and  were  busy  with  promises,  flattery,  and  threats  of  the  vengeance  of 
the  Emir  Beshir.  The  mission  had  neither  men  nor  money  enough  to 
grant  their  requests  for  means  of  instruction  and  of  grace.  Still,  the 
Druzes  remained  decided  in  their  choice,  and  declared  that  they  would 
never  join  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  conviction  was  certainly  strong 
and  extensive  among  them,  that  their  old  religion  must  be  given  up, 
and  that  the  religion  taught  by  the  mission  must  be  its  substitute.  Po- 
litical changes,  past  and  expected,  probably  had  great  influence  in  pro- 
moting this  state  of  things ;  but  there  were  evidently  some  instances, — 


1838.]  CYPRUS.      PERSIA.  369 

and  their  number  was  increasing, — of  a  desire  to  know  and  obey  the 
truth. 

On  the  1 1th  of  November,  another  Driize,  his  wife,  and  four  Druze 
children,  were  baptized.  At  the  same  time,  one  Latin  and  one  Greek  Pa- 
pist and  two  Greeks  were  admitted  to  the  church.  During  the  latter  part 
of  the  year,  there  were  several  interesting  cases  of  conversion  among  nomi- 
nal Christians.  One  of  them  had  been  in  the  employment  of  Mr.  Fisk, 
and  was  with  him  when  attacked  by  the  Arabs  on  the  plain  of  Esdraelon. 

Both  the  missionaries  and  the  Committee  had  thought  it  cyp.ui. 

best  to  abandon  this  station  ;  but  the  disposition  of  the  people  this  year 
afforded  such  hope  of  usefulness,  that  it  was  now  thought  better  to  con- 
tinue it  as  a  distinct  mission.  The  books  of  the  mission  were  sought 
with  eagerness,  and  many  were  advantageously  distributed,  especially  in 
the  schools  and  among  the  clergy.  Mr.  Pease  began  to  preach  in  Greek, 
and  was  allowed  repeatedly  to  preach  in  Greek  churches.  Some  of  the 
more  enlightened  of  the  clergy  themselves  commenced  preaching  stated- 
ly ;  or  rather,  perhaps,  expounding  the  Scriptures,  which  was  the  form 
of  preaching  best  adapted  to  the  present  state  both  of  speakers  and 
hearers. 

In  the  interesting  mission  to  the  Nestorians,  there  was  The  Nestonans. 
no  very  considerable  change.  By  giving  their  schools  numerous  and 
long  vacations,  and  by  rigid  economy  in  personal  expenses,  the  breth- 
ren avoided  the  necessity  of  formally  suspending  any  of  their  operations- 
There  were  50  students  in  the  seminary,  of  whom  two  were  bishops,  three 
priests,  and  four  deacons.  Twelve  were  studying  English  ;  and  four, 
Hebrew.  The  Hebrew  they  found  to  be  of  easy  acquisition,  on  account  of 
its  similarity  to  their  own  language.  One  of  the  students  was  a  Muham- 
medan  boy,  supported  there  at  the  expense  o[  fifty  dollars  a  year  by  the 
king's  brother,  the  prince  of  Aderbaijan,  in  which  province  Oorooraiah 
is  situated.  Near  the  close  of  the  year,  two  boys  joined  the  school  from 
the  independent  Nestorians  among  the  Koordish  mountains.  The  mis- 
sion had  eight  native  helpers ;  of  whom  three  were  bishops,  two  priests, 
and  three  deacons.  One  priest  and  one  deacon  were  from  the  moun- 
tains. One  of  the  bishops,  whose  work  was  to  superintend  some  of  the 
village  schools,  was  the  venerable  Mar  Elias,  the  oldest  bishop  in  th(^ 
province.  He  was  much  interested  in  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  of 
which,  before  the  arrival  of  the  mission,  they  had  but  one  entire  copy 
among  them,  and  that  was  in  several  volumes,  in  the  possession  of  dif- 
ferent individuals.  Little  was  known  of  any  part,  except  the  Gospels 
and  Psalms,  nearly  all  of  which  were  included  in  their  church  service. 
As  he  became  acquainted  with  the  Epistles,  Mar  Elias  began  to  read 
portions  of  them  to  his  people  on  the  Sabbath,  translating  them  into  the 
modern  language.  Some  of  the  people  were  delighted.  Others  impa- 
tiently complained  that  he  was  always  annoying  them  with  the  precepts 
of  "  Paul,  Paul,  Paul  ;"  but  their  opposition  only  excited  his  zeal. — At 
length,  the  brethren  saw  one  person  from  Tyary,  the  principal  indepen- 
dent tribe  of  the  Nestorians.     He  was  a  youth,  and  totally  blind.    He 

47 


370  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

had  heard  of  Dr.  Grant,  and  set  forth  alone  to  find  him.  Begging,  at 
every  village,  the  assistance  of  some  one  to  lead  him  by  the  hand  to  the 
next,  he  arrived  at  Ooroomiah  in  five  or  six  weeks.  He  returned,  seeing. 
— Papal  missionaries  still  hovered  around  the  Nestorians  ;  for  Rome 
Mrell  understood  the  importance  of  that  field  of  labor  ;  but  for  the  pres- 
ent they  had  little  success. 

Mission  to  Persia.  Mr.  Mcrriclc,   missionary  to  the   Persians,  spent  the 

greater  part  of  the  year  at  Tabriz,  where  he  was  married,  in  March,  to 
an  English  lady  residing  there.  In  September,  the  Prince  of  Aderbai- 
jan  gave  him  a  firman,  authorizing  him  to  open  a  school  for  any  who 
should  choose  to  attend.  The  royal  family  wished  to  introduce  the  learn- 
ing, arts  and  civihzation  of  Christian  countries  into  Persia  ;  and  for  that 
purpose,  the  prince  was  very  desirous  that  the  school  should  commence; 
but  it  would  be  understood,  of  course,  that  Christianity  should  not  be 
taught  in  it.  Mr.  Merrick  referred  the  question  to  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, who  decided  it  in  the  negative.  The  Board  cannot  enter  upon 
a  course  of  measures  which  is  not  understood  by  all  parties  to  have  the 
promotion  of  Christianity  for  its  end.  To  commence  such  schools  with 
the  hope  of  working  in  something  of  the  gospel  slily,  would  be  equally 
short-sighted  and  dishonest,  and  would  soon  end  in  merited  detection, 
defeat  and  disgrace.  Yet  there  may  doubtless  be  cases,  in  which  the 
missionaries  ought  to  assist  the  people  among  whom  they  labor,  to  es- 
tabhsh  and  conduct  schools  which  are  not  Christian  on  their  own  re- 
sponsibility, as  was  done  at  the  Turkish  barracks.  Of  such  cases,  and 
of  the  kind  and  degree  of  assistance  to  be  rendered,  the  missionaries  must 
judge  as  occasions  present  themselves. 

capePaimas.  The  misslon  at  Cape  Palmas,  though  reduced  in  num- 

bers, and  embarrassed  for  want  of  funds,  was  not  unfruitful.  Eight 
were  added  to  the  church,  which  now  had  21  members.  Four  members 
of  the  church  were  employed  as  schoolmasters.  The  press,  at  the  end 
of  this  year,  had  struck  off  7,012  copies  of  ten  different  works,  amount- 
ing to  125,592  pages.  More  than  half  had  been  done  during  the  year  ; 
including  nearly  the  whole  of  Matthew,  and  a  part  of  John's  gospel,  in 
the  Grebo  language.  There  were  35  pupils  in  the  seminary,  and  about 
50  in  the  three  free  schools.  In  the  autumn,  Mr.  Wilson  wrote  that  he 
had  obtained  important  information  concerning  the  African  fever,  which 
he  now  regarded  with  much  less  terror  than  formerly. 
Zulu  Mission  sus.  Thc  Zulu  mlsslon  was  broken  up  by  war.  About  the  be- 
pended.  ginning  of  the  year,  one  of  the  Zinduna*  forbade  the  people 

of  his  village  to  attend  worship  with  the  missionaries.  It  was  thought 
best  for  Mr.  Venable  to  seeDingaan  on  the  subject,  which  he  did  on  the 
6th  of  February,  a  few  hours  after  Dingaan  had  committed  a  most  atro- 

*  The  reader  of  missionary  intelligence  from  this  part  of  Africa  should  be 
aware,  that  in  many  cases,  the  inflections  of  words  are  at  the  beginning  :  thus, 
Induna,  a  village  magistrate  ;  Zinduna,  magistrates.  The  Bechuana  tribes 
speak  the  Sichiuina  language  ;  and  the  Matebele  people  inhabit  the  Sitebele 
country. 


1838.]  CHEROKEES   REMOVED.  371 

cious  act  of  treachery  and  murder.  The  Boers  had  resolved  to  settle 
near  Natal  ;  and  as  Dingaan  would  then  be  their  neighbor,  and  they 
wished  to  be  on  good  terras  with  hira,  Mr.  Retief,  their  leader,  of  whom 
the  missionaries  speak  highly,  visited  him  with  about  60  of  his  people. 
He  consented  to  their  settlement,  made  them  a  feast,  and  w^hile  they 
were  eating,  unarmed,  ordered  his  soldiers  to  seize  them,  carry  them  to 
a  neighboring  hill,  and  put  them  to  death.  The  order  was  obeyed,  and 
not  one  escaped.  He  immediately  sent  his  army,  by  forced  marches,  to 
attack  the  encampment  of  the  Boers.  They  fell  upon  the  camp  unex- 
pectedly, and  in  the  night  ;  but  were  repulsed  with  loss.  The  Boers, 
who  were  receiving  frequent  reinforcements  from  the  Cape  Colony,  now 
advanced  against  Dingaan.  The  people  round  about  Natal  rose  against 
him.  It  was  evident  that,  for  a  considerable  time,  missionary  labor 
would  be  impossible,  and  life  and  property  unsafe.  All  the  missiona- 
ries of  the  Board,  except  Mr.  Lindley,  left  the  country,  and  arrived  at 
Port  Elizabeth,  within  the  limits  of  the  colony,  on  the  30th  of  March. 
Mr.  Owen,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  left  at  the  same  time.  Mr. 
Lindley  remained  at  Natal,  to  observe  and  report  the  course  of  events. 
April  23,  Dingaan,  after  defeating  more  than  1000  of  the  Natal  people, 
advanced  suddenly  to  that  place,  and  Mr.  Lindley  took  refuge  on  board 
a  vessel  in  the  harbor,  and  joined  his  family  in  June.  The  Boers  con- 
tinued to  pour  into  the  country,  and  Dingaan  was  routed  in  several  bat- 
tles, with  the  loss  of  many  of  his  warriors.  About  the  close  of  the  year, 
the  Boers  gained  a  decided  victory,  and  took  Dingaan's  capital,  which 
prepared  the  way  for  peace,  and  afforded  hope  that  the  mission  might 
be  resumed.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Venable,  Mr.  Champion  and  Dr.  Wil- 
son, with  their  families,  visited  their  native  land. 

The  Cherokees  still  refused  to  acknowledge  the  treaty  chemvces  removed. 
of  December,  1835,  for  their  removal.  Their  delegation  at  Washing- 
ton, during  the  winter  session  of  Congress,  endeavored  to  obtain  a  sub- 
stitute for  it,  or  a  modification  of  it,  which  they  could  acknowledge.  The 
attempt  was  ineffectual.  Meanwhile,  preparations  for  removing  them 
were  going  on.  They  had  always  declared  that  they  would  never  leave 
their  country  under  that  treaty,  unless  compelled  by  force,  but  if  force 
should  be  used,  they  would  not  resist.  During  the  winter,  some  thou- 
sands of  United  States'  troops,  were  sent  into  the  Cherokee  country.  Still, 
they  generally  believed  that  the  treaty  would  not  be  enforced,  and  made 
preparations  for  cultivating  their  farms  the  next  summer.  In  the  spring, 
Gen.  Scott  was  sent  to  command  the  troops  and  remove  the  Chero- 
kees. On  arriving,  he  issued  his  proclamation,  entreating  the  Cherokees 
to  yield  without  resistance,  and  spare  him  the  painful  necessity  of  shed- 
ding blood.  The  23d  of  May  was  the  day  fixed  by  the  treaty  for  their 
removal.  Immediately  after  that  day,  the  army  began  its  operations  in 
small  detachments,  making  prisoners  of  one  family  after  another,  and 
gathering  them  into  camps.  No  one,  white  or  Indian,  has  ever  complain- 
ed of  the  manner  in  which  this  work  was  performed.  If  to  be  done  at 
all,  it  probably  could  not  have  been  done  better.    Through  the  good 


372  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1838. 

disposition  of  the  army  and  the  provident  arrangements  of  its  com- 
mander, less  injury  was  done  by  accident  or  mistake,  than  could  rea- 
sonably have  been  expected..  By  the  end  of  June,  nearly  the  whole  na- 
tion were  gathered  into  camps,  and  some  thousands  commenced  their 
march  for  the  west.  The  extreme  heat  of  the  season  prevented  any 
further  emigration  till  September.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Ross  and  other 
principal  men  had  returned  from  Washington,  and  arrangements  were 
made  for  conducting  the  remainder  to  their  new  home,  in  a  manner  more 
satisfactory  to  themselves.  They  were  to  go  in  successive  detachments 
of  about  1,000  each,  under  leaders  selected  from  among  themselves,  at- 
tended by  physicians,  with  wagons  or  boats  for  supplies  and  for  convey- 
ing the  infirm. 

On  the  19th  of  August,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  the  church  atBrain- 
erd  gathered,  for  the  last  time  in  that  place,  around  the  Lord's  table, 
and  the  sacrament  was  administered  to  them  by  their  missionary  teach- 
ers. Soon  after,  the  whole  nation,  amounting  to  about  16,000  people, 
were  on  their  march,  in  fourteen  companies.  One  was  conducted  by 
Mr.  Jones,  of  the  Baptist  mission  ;  another  by  Mr.  Bushyhead,  a  Baptist 
native  preacher  ;  another  by  Stephen  Foreman,  native  preacher  in  the 
service  of  the  Board  ;  another  by  Mr.  Taylor,  a  member  of  the  Brain- 
erd  church.  Several  missionaries  of  the  Board  accompanied  them  on 
their  way.  Their  journey  of  600  or  700  miles  was  performed  in  about 
four  or  five  months.  The  best  arrangements  appear  to  have  been  made 
for  their  comfort,  and  they  received  many  acts  of  kindness  from  those  in 
whose  vicinity  they  passed  ;  but  in  such  a  work,  suffering  and  death 
were  unavoidable.  In  the  ten  months  which  elapsed  from  May  23, 
when  the  work  of  their  removal  commenced,  to  the  time  when  the  last 
company  completed  its  journey,  more  than  4,000  persons, — that  is,  more 
than  one  fouilh  of  the  whole  number, — sunk  under  their  sufferings  and 
died.  Their  sufferings  were  greatly  aggravated  by  the  conduct  of  law- 
less Georgians,  who  rushed  ravenously  into  the  country,  seized  the  prop- 
erty of  Cherokees  as  soon  as  they  were  arrested,  appropriated  it  to  their 
own  use,  or  sold  it  for  a  trifle  to  each  other  before  the  eyes  of  its  owner  ; 
thus  reducing  even  the  rich  to  absolute  indigence,  and  depriving  families 
of  comforts  which  they  were  about  to  need  on  their  long  and  melancholy 
march. 

Of  the  other  Indian  missions  east  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, there  is  little  to  relate.  The  same  course  of  severe 
and  unremitting  labor  amidst  privations  and  trials,  as  in  former  years, 
was  continued,  and  with  similar  results.  In  the  northwestern  tribes, 
there  was  a  small,  but  evident  approach  towards  civilization.  Among 
the  Sioux,  an  awakening  commenced  about  the  end  of  the  year,  as  the 
fruit  of  which,  ten  persons  were  soon  after  added  to  the  church.  Among 
the  Abernaquis,  the  faithful  and  laborious  Osunkerhine  was  steadily 
gaining  influence  and  doing  good.  A  house  of  w^orship  was  erected, 
and  he  was  installed,  by  the  Champlain  Presbytery,  as  pastor  of  the 
church. 


1838.]  INDIAN   MISSIONS.      SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  373 

Beyond  the  mountains,  there  were  brighter  hopes.  In  oregm,  Mi..i„n. 
March  the  Rev.  Elkanah  Walker,  Rev.  Gushing  Eells,  and  Rev.  Asa 
B.  Smith,  with  their  wives,  commenced  their  journey  to  reinforce  the 
missions  in  the  Oregon  territory.  Mr.  Gray  returned  at  the  same  time, 
with  his  wife.  They  arrived  at  Wallawalla  on  the  29th  of  August. 
It  was  then  decided  that  Mr.  Smith  should  be  stationed  at  Waiilatpu, 
among  the  Kayuses,  with  Dr.  Whitman,  and  Mr.  Gray  witli  Mr.  Spal- 
ding, among  the  Nez  Perces ;  and  that  Mr.  Walker  and  Mr.  Eells 
should  form  a  new  station  farther  north,  among  the  Ponderays,  The 
new  station  was  visited,  but  not  fully  occupied,  this  season. 

A  church  was  formed  in  August,  just  before  the  rein-  cimrci.  formeri. 
forcement  arrived.  Its  members  were,  the  missionaries,  their  wives, 
and  a  man  and  his  wife  from  the  church  at  Honolulu,  wh'^  hnd  come 
from  the  Sandwich  Islands  to  labor  in  the  service  of  the  mission.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  September,  an  Indian  man  and  his  wife  had  become 
members  of  the  church,  and  two  girls  had  died  giving  evidence  of  piety. 
A  regular  school  was  opened  about  the  close  of  this  month,  at  the  Nez 
Perces  station,  in  a  large  school-house,  with  more  than  100  pupils. 

Throughout  this  whole  region,  the  eagerness  of  the  Aw„i(f.,ine«mong 
Indians  for  religious  instruction  continued,  and  as  the  mis-  ""  ^" 
sionaries  became  acquainted  with  the  language,  it  was  more  abundantly 
imparted.  Making  suitable  allowances  for  what  is  inevitable  among  un- 
evangelized  and  uncivilized  men,  it  may  be  said  that  every  thing  was 
encouraging.  The  year  closed  in  the  midst  of  a  remarkable  religious 
excitement  among  the  Nez  Perces.  On  the  Sabbath,  while  Mr.  Spal- 
ding was  speaking  of  the  love  which  Stephen,  the  first  martyr,  showed 
for  his  enemies  while  they  were  stoning  him,  a  chief  arose,  came  near 
the  speaker,  and  continued  standing  and  weeping  till  the  discourse  was 
ended.  Then  he  commenced  a  most  affecting  speech,  confessing  his 
sins,  pleading  for  mercy,  dedicating  himself,  soul  and  body,  to  God,  and 
pleading  with  his  people  to  give  themselves  at  once  to  the  Saviour. 
Others  followed  his  example,  and  the  scene  was  continued  till  late,  and 
was  renewed  again  in  the  evening.  During  the  week,  a  series  of  after- 
noon meetings  was  commenced,  which  continued  eight  days,  extending 
into  January.  These  meetings  were  essentially  of  the  same  character. 
The  excitement  reached  into  the  next  year. 

During  the  autumn,  two  Roman  Catholic  priests  arrived,  intending 
to  commence  a  mission  among  the  Flatheads. 

Events  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  this  year,  furnish  mat-  sandwich  i8iand>. 
ter  for  one  of  the  brightest  pages  of  the  history  of  missions.  '"''"=«"'"  """"• 
Just  at  the  time  when  money  could  not  be  had,  and  the  means  employ- 
ed by  missions  must  be  reduced,  and  men's  hearts  were  failing  them 
for  fear  of  the  consequences,  He  who  commanded  his  people  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature,  made  the  manifestation  of  his  strength 
perfect  through  their  weakness.  Eversince  the  churches  began  to  re- 
cover from  the  shock  given  them  by  the  king,  when  he  assumed  the 
government  in  1833,  they  had  been,  steadily  gaining  strength  and  in- 


374  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

fluence.  Not  only  had  their  numbers  increased,  but  their  faith  and 
piety  had  improved  in  its  character;  being  founded  less  on  the  influence 
of  their  temporal  superiors,  and  more  upon  their  own  convictions  of 
truth  and  duty.  The  practice  of  thinking,  of  weighing  arguments,  of 
forming  opinions  and  acting  according  to  them,  was  not  only  gaining 
strength  in  the  churches,  but  spreading  among  the  unconverted.  Many, 
who  formerly  admitted  the  truth  and  claims  of  Christianity  on  the  tes- 
timony of  others,  now  believed  it  to  be  true,  for  reasons  which  they 
themselves  understood.  With  this  increasing  preparation  of  mind  for 
the  profitable  hearing  of  the  gospel,  there  had  been  an  increase  of  con- 
versions and  admissions  to  the  churches ;  and  the  work  had  gone  on, 
gathering  strength  in  its  progress,  till  the  events  about  the  close  of 
1837  announced  that  the  time  of  its  triumph  had  fully  come. 

"  The  Sabbath  that  closed  the  last  year,"  Mr.  Bingham  wrote,  "  was 
at  Honolulu  an  interesting  day. — Our  protracted  meeting  commenced 
the  next  morning,  as  the  first  rising  sun  showed  itself  in  the  east.  Our 
large  house  was  well  filled.  Scores,  if  not  hundreds,  have  declared  that 
on  that  day  they  chose  the  Lord,  and  gave  themselves  to  him."  In  the 
same  letter,  dated  March  3,  he  says,  "  the  brethren  at  Hilo  and  Wai- 
mea  on  Hawaii  are  counting  hundreds  of  converts.  At  all  the  stations 
on  that  island,  it  is  believed  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  present  and  spe- 
cially operating  on  the  hearts  of  the  people. — For  three  months  past, 
there  has  been  a  waking  up  at  the  stations  on  this  island;  first  here, 
then  at  Waialua,  then  at  Ewa,  then  at  Kaneohe."  He  wrote  again, 
April  26,  that  about  500  had  been  selected  from  among  the  professed 
converts  on  Oahu,  for  admission  to  the  church,  and  a  part  of  them  ad- 
mitted. Reports  of  the  same  character  came  from  Lahaina  and  Wai- 
luku  on  Maui,  from  Kauai,  and  from  other  islands.  The  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  mission  was  held  in  June.  The  general  letter,  dated  on 
the  20th  of  that  month,  states  that  religion  had  been  revived  at  every 
station  ;  that  about  5000  had  been  added  to  the  churches  within  twelve 
months ;  that  about  2400  then  stood  propounded  for  admission,  and 
that  there  were  many  more  who  exhibited  some  evidence  of  piety  ;  that 
the  standard  of  piety  in  the  churches  had  been  raised,  and  their  pu- 
rity promoted,  and  there  had  been  an  increase  of  moral  courage  and 
power. 

The  work  continued.  From  Lahaina,  Mr.  Baldwin  wrote,  Novem- 
ber 13,  that,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  hundreds  had  been  truly  con- 
verted, and  the  Holy  Spirit  was  still  at  work  in  the  hearts  of  many  of 
the  impenitent.  The  whole  aspect  of  society  was  changed.  Only  50 
had  yet  been  received  into  the  church.  The  work  increased  in  power 
during  the  months  of  November  and  December.  On  Molokai,  in  No- 
vember, 228  had  been  added  to  the  church,  as  the  fruits  of  this  revival, 
and  other  additions  were  expected.  In  the  districts  of  Hilo  and  Puna, 
on  Hawaii,  Mr  Coan  baptized  and  admitted  to  the  church,  450  in  Oc- 
tober, 786  in  November,  357  in  December,  and  4993  during  the  year ; 
and  more  than  500  stood  propounded  for  admission  at  its  close.     To 


|||l|l|ll|li1ili|ll|iili!ll]i|p| 


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376  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1838. 

most  of  the  other  churches,  fewer  had  been  admitted  in  proportion  to 
the  whole  number  of  apparent  converts. 

This  great  impulse  given  to  the  mind  of  the  nation,  rousing  it  to  acti- 
vity and  directing  it  towards  whatsoever  things  are  pure  and  lovely  and 
of  good  report,  could  not  but  be  attended  with  visible  improvement  in 
things  not  directly  religious.     Better  houses  were  built,  not  only  for 
worship  and  for  schools,  but  for  habitations.     More  land  was  cultivated, 
and  with  better  results.     The  labors  of  the  spindle  and  the  loom  made 
encouraging  progress,  especially  under  the  patronage  of  Kuakini.     The 
practice  of  other  mechanic  arts  became  more  common  and  more  perfect. 
Schools  were  better  taught,  better  attended,  and  better  supported ;  and 
competent  teachers,  especially  graduates  from  the  Seminary  at  Lahaina- 
luna,  were  in  greater  demand.     The  progress  towards  complete  civili- 
zation was  manifest  in  every  department  of  society  but  one.     The  gov- 
ernment was  still  despotic.     The  chiefs  were  still  the  sole  proprietors  of 
the  soil  and  of  its  inhabitants,  and  the  people  were  virtually  slaves.     No 
one  of  them  owned  the  land  that  he  tilled,  the  fruits  that  he  gathered 
from  it,  or  any  of  the  products  of  his  own  industry.     Since  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity,  the  chiefs  had  greatly  ameliorated  the  adminis- 
tration  of  the  government.     By  publishing  a  few  laws,  they  bound 
themselves  to  govern  in  some  respects  according  to  law,  and  not  by  ca- 
price.    By  sanctioning  Christian  marriage,  they  had  parted  with  a  por- 
tion of  their  control  over  the  persons  of  those  who  became  husbands  and 
wives.     By  encouraging  the  people  to  aid  voluntarily  in  the  support  of 
schools,  they  allowed  them  to  dispose  of  a  part  of  their  own  earnings. 
But  still  it  was  felt,  especially  by  the  chiefs,  that  a  great  work  was  still 
to  be  done ;  that  the  whole  frame  of  government  must  be  remodelled,  and 
in  such  a  way  that  both  rulers  and  people  would  know  their  privileges 
and  their  duties,  and  new  incentives  would  be  felt  to  industry  and  im- 
provement.    They  had,  two  years  before,  requested  the  Board  to  send 
them  an  instructor  in  the  science  of  government;  but  the  Board  must 
teach  religion  and  not  politics,  and  could  not  send  him.     On  the  return  of 
Mr.  Richards,  in  April  of  this  year,  the  king  and  chiefs  applied  to  him 
to  become  their  chaplain,  teacher  and  interpreter,  engaging  to  provide 
for  his  support.     A  principal  object  of  the  appointment  was,  to  secure 
his  instructions  in  the  science  of  government,  and  his  assistance  in  mak- 
ing those  changes  in  jurisprudence,  which  the  good  of  the  nation  requir- 
ed.    With  the  approbation  of  his  brethren,  he  accepted  his  appointment. 
The  Prudential  Committee  sanctioned  his  decision,  and,  with  unabat- 
ed confidence  in  his  judgment,  zeal  and  devotedness,  and  hoping  that 
he  may  at  some  future  time  resume  his  connection  with  them,  granted 
him  a  dismission  from  its  service. 


1839.]  RETURN    OF   MISSIONARIES.  377 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

1839. — Annual  Meeting  at  Troy. — Return  of  Missionaries. — Mr.  Brewer's 
case. — Mahratta  Mission. — Conversion  of  Haripant  and  Narayan. — Excite- 
ment at  Bombay. — Ciiina. — Tlie  opium  war. — Siam. — Inoculation. — Print- 
ing for  the  king. — Station  at  Anghin. — Borneo. —  Mission  commenced. — 
Constantinople. — The  Persecution. — Banishment  of  Hohanncs  and  others. — 
Effects  of  the  persecution  on  other  stations  in  Turkey. —  Syria. — Abu  Yusuf 
at  Tripoli. —  The  Druzes. —  Cyprus. — Schools  increased. — Preaching  in 
Greek. — Nestorians. — Death  of  Mrs.  Grant. — Seriousness. — Priest  Dunka. 
Papal  efforts  frustrated. — School  for  Muhammedans. — Dr.  Grant  and  Mr. 
Homes  in  Mesopotamia. — Dr.  Grant's  visit  to  tiie  Independent  Ncstorians. — 
Africa. — Zulu  Mission  resumed. — Visit  to  Zanzibar. — Cherokecs. — Massa- 
cre of  Ridge  and  Boudinot. — Oregon. — Self-supporting  mission. — Sand- 
wich Islands. — Revival  continued. — Bible  translated. — Death  of  chiefs. — 
Code  of  laws  established. —  Persecution  abolished. —  French  outrage. — 
Popery  and  brandy  introduced  by  force  of  arms. 

The  thirtieth  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  Troy,  N. 
Y.  on  the  1 1th,  12th  and  13th  of  September.  The  Rev.  B.  B.  Edwards 
was  chosen  Assistant  Recording  Secretary,  in  place  of  Charles  Stod- 
dard, Esq.  resigned,  and  the  Rev.  Silas  Aiken  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Prudential  Committee,  in  place  of  Dr.  Fay,  who  had  resigned. 

The  question  of  funds,  of  advance  or  retrenchment,  continued  to  de- 
mand solicitous  consideration.  The  receipts,  for  the  financial  year,  had 
been  about  $244,000  ;  the  expenditures,  something  more  than  $227,000, 
and  the  remaining  debt  was  over  $  19,000  j  though  the  allowances  to 
the  several  missions  were  still  on  a  scale  painfully  inadequate  to  their 
wants.  The  amount  of  unavoidable  appropriations  for  the  year  to 
come,  without  paying  the  debt  or  sending  out  appointed  missionaries, 
would  be  $244,983;  with  those  additions,  $284,156  ;  and  to  restore 
fully  the  means  of  usefulness  to  the  missions,  would  require  $300,000. 
After  full  deliberation,  the  Board  could  not  say  that  allowances  to  the 
missions  should  be  diminished,  or  missionaries  detained.  The  Committee 
was  directed  to  "  go  forward,  and  carry  out  their  plans  of  benevolence.'* 

The  subject  of  the  return  of  missionaries  was  again  brought  under 
consideration,  and  modified,  so  as  to  require  the  previous  consent  of  the 
Committee  when  practicable  to  obtain  their  decision,  and  in  other  cases, 
the  consent  of  the  mission,  subject  to  the  revision  of  the  Committee.  In 
this  form  it  will  probably  remain ;  though  time  has  not  yet  perfected 
our  knowledge  of  all  facts  that  belong  to  its  history. 

A  full  report  concerning  the  newMissionary  House  and  the  arrange- 
ments for  conducting  business  in  it,  was  made  by  the  Committee,  and 
approved  by  the  Board.  The  offices  of  the  Secretaries  and  Treasurer 
were  removed  to  that  house  on  the  13th  of  March. 

48 


378  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

Mr.  Brewer's  case.  Xhc  casG  of  the  Rev.  Josiah  Brewer  was  brought  up, 

by  a  roemorial  from  the  Berkshire  Association  of  Congregational  minis- 
ters. Since  his  dismission  at  his  own  request  in  1828,  the  Committee 
had  often  been  blamed  for  not  receiving  him  again  into  the  service  of 
the  Board,  but  had  never  received  any  offer  of  his  services,  either  from 
him,  or  from  any  person  authorized  to  act  in  his  name.  In  consequence 
of  this  memorial,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  give  the  case  a  new 
hearing,  and  to  report  at  the  next  annual  meeting. 
Mahratu  Mission.  The  mlsslon  to  the  Mahrattas  w^as   reinforced.     The 

Rev.  Ebenezer  Burgess,  Rev.  Ozro  French  and  Rev.  R.  W.  Hume,  with 
their  wives,  and  Miss  Cynthia  Farrar,  on  her  return,  sailed  from  Boston 
in  April,  and  arrived  at  Bombay  in  August.  Mr.  Hume  joined  the 
station  at  Bombay.  Mr.  Burgess,  Mr.  French  and  Miss  Farrar  went  on 
to  Ahmednuggur. 

The  mission  had  eight  free  schools  at  Bombay,  four  at  Ahmednug- 
gur, four  at  Jalna,  and  one  at  Malcolm  Peth  ;  seventeen  in  all,  with 
822  pupils.  The  girls  in  the  free  and  boarding  schools  amounted  to 
nearly  two  hundred.  There  were  55  students  in  the  Seminary  at  Ah- 
mednuggur. 

The  native  mission  church  at  Bombay  had  fifteen  members ;  that  at 
Ahmednuggur  twelve,  and  that  at  Malcolm  Peth  seven. 

At  Ahmednuggur,  Haripant,  a  young  Brahraun,  of  one  of  the  most 
respectable  families  in  the  place,  who  had  for  two  years  been  employed 
by  the  mission  as  an  inspector  of  schools,  was  baptized  on  the  l3th  of 
April,  and  Narayan,  his  elder  brother,  on  the  5th  of  May.  There  was 
a  great  excitement  among  the  Brahmuns.  A  great  council  was  called, 
and  a  decree  was  issued,  that  no  Brahmun  should  have  any  intercourse 
with  the  mission,  on  penalty  of  loss  of  caste.  Three  schools,  containing 
principally  Brahmun  children,  were  broken  up,  and  the  teachers  and 
others  left  the  mission.  They  said  that  having  so  much  to  do  with  the 
schools  and  school  books  had  made  Haripant  a  Christian,  and  if  the 
children  were  educated  in  those  schools,  they  would  all  be  Christians 
too.  They  found  no  fault  with  the  books,  except  that  they  so  often 
mentioned  Jesus  Christ;  and  said  that  if  the  mission  would  only  strike 
out  that  name  and  substitute  the  name  of  God,  they  would  make  no  ob- 
jection. Of  course,  that  was  not  done.  In  a  few  days,  all  was  quiet, 
several  returned  to  the  employment  of  the  mission,  and  others  offered  to 
engage  in  its  service. 

There  was  an  excitement,  too,  at  Bombay.  A  considerable  number 
of  the  inhabitants  are  Parsees,  descendants  of  the  ancient  Persians,  and 
adherents  of  the  religion  of  Zoroaster.  In  May  two  of  their  young  men 
were  baptized  by  Dr.  Wilson,  of  the  Scottish  mission.  They  are  sup- 
posed to  be  the  first  Parsee  converts  to  Protestant  Christianity.  Their 
conversion  excited  at  first  surprise,  and  then  indignation.  For  a  time, 
their  lives  were  thought  to  be  in  danger.  A  prosecution  was  com- 
menced against  Dr.  Wilson,  but  judgment  was  given  in  his  favor.  Peo- 
ple were  then  exhorted  to  abstain  from  all  intercourse  with  any  of  the 


1839.]  MISSION   TO   CHINA.      THE    OPIUM   WAR.  379 

missions.  The  Hindoos  and  Muhamraedans  joined  in  the  effort.  A 
leading  Brahmun  prepared  and  published  a  tract  against  Christianity. 
A  "  Society  for  protecting  Hindooism"  was  formed,  and  was  to  employ 
agents,  establish  schools,  and  publish  and  circulate  books.  A  treatise 
against  the  Bible,  on  the  basis  of  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason,"  was  to  be 
prepared.  And  finally,  a  petition  to  the  government  was  drawn  up,  and 
signed  by  more  than  2100  persons,  mostly  Hindoos  and  Parsees,  urging 
the  passage  of  laws  to  prevent  the  conversion  of  the  natives  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  Bombay  government  sent  the  petition  to  the  Supreme 
Legislative  Council  at  Calcutta,  where,  probably,  it  still  remains  unan- 
swered. 

In  Ceylon,  37  native  converts  were  added  to  the  church,  ceyion. 

from  the  beginning  of  the  year  to  the  19th  of  May  ;  making  the  whole 
number  received  from  the  beginning,  492.  The  seminary  contained 
149  students,  besides  16  in  the  preparatory  class.  Of  the  students,  84 
were  church  members.  Of  its  graduates,  38  were  employed  by  this 
mission,  15  by  the  mission  at  Madura,  one  by  the  mission  at  Madras, 
and  13  by  English  Missionary  Societies ;  in  all,  67  native  assistant 
missionaries.  Among  the  enlargements  was  the  commencement  of  a 
school  of  twenty  girls  at  Varany,  sustained,  at  first,  by  the  private  liber- 
ality of  Mr.  Apthorp. 

At  Madras,  the  printing  and  schools  went  on  without  Mad™. 

interruption.  One  native  was  added  to  the  church  in  September,  and 
there  were  four  or  five  candidates  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

The  Madura  mission,  at  its  annual  meeting  in  January,  fMaiura. 

authorized  the  establishment  of  73  native  free  schools ;  of  which  twelve 
were  to  be  at  Terumungalutn,  seven  at  Terupuvanum,  seven  at  Seva- 
gunga,  fifteen  at  Dindigul,  and  thirty-two  at  Madura.  In  September,  a 
church  was  formed  at  Terupuvanum,  and  a  native  convert  admitted. 
There  were  also  several  native  candidates  for  admission. 

This  year,  missionary  labors  in  China  were  almost  en-  Mission  lo  china. 
tirely  suspended,  by  the  efforts  of  the  government  to  break  '^'"  °'"'""  "^"" 
up  the  illicit  traffick  in  opium.  Originally,  and  for  a  long  time,  almost 
all  commerce  with  China  was  carried  on  with  gold  and  silver.  Within 
a  few  years,  opium  had,  to  a  great  extent,  taken  the  place  of  the  pre- 
cious metals.  The  practice  of  smoking  it  had  become  the  master  vice 
of  Eastern  and  Southeastern  Asia.  The  appetite,  when  once  formed,  is 
said  to  be  more  imperious  and  unconquerable  than  that  of  the  drunkard 
for  ardent  spirits ;  and  the  effect,  both  on  the  body  and  the  mind  of  its 
victim,  more  rapidly  and  awfully  destructive.  The  British  East  India 
Company  were  the  principal  dealers  in  this  pernicious  drug.  Its  culti- 
vation had  been  greatly  extended  in  British  India,  and  millions  of  Hin- 
doos, especially  in  the  Bengal  Presidency  and  Mahva,  derived  their 
subsistence  from  it.  The  opium  was  sold  at  Singapore,  at  Bangkok, 
and  at  every  mart  along  the  coast,  but  principally  at  Canton,  where 
the  proceeds  furnished  the  means  of  purchasing  Chinese  goods,  and  thus 


380  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

prevented  the  necessity  for  shipping  specie  from  London  or  Calcutta. 
Merchants  of  other  nations,  too,  instead  of  sending  specie,  bought  bills 
of  exchange  on  London,  with  which  they  purchased  opium  of  the  Eng- 
lish at  Canton,  to  be  used  in  trade  with  the  Chinese.  The  annual  value 
of  this  destructive  trade  was  estimated  at  sixteen  millions  of  dollars. 
This  traffick  had  long  been  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  the  empire ;  but  all 
efforts  to  suppress  it  had  been  defeated.  The  very  officers  sent  down 
the  river  to  inspect  ships  on  their  arrival,  bribed  by  a  share  of  the  profits, 
brought  it  up  to  Canton  in  the  government  boats  when  they  returned, 
and  then  reported  that  there  was  none  on  board.  Ships  were  sent 
along  the  coast,  to  places  where  there  were  no  ports  of  entry  for  foreign 
trade,  for  the  purpose  of  smuggling  it  into  the  country ;  and  Chinese 
smugglers  were  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition,  for  the  purpose  of 
defending  themselves  against  the  officers  of  government.  In  the  spring 
of  this  year,  Lin  arrived  at  Canton,  as  Imperial  Commissioner  with  ab- 
solute power,  and  with  orders  to  stop  the  traffick,  whatever  it  might  cost. 
He  ascertained  that  there  were  more  than  20,000  chests  of  opium,  val- 
ued at  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  dollars,  on  board  the  vessels  at  and 
around  Canton.  He  knew  that  if  he  merely  prevented  its  landing,  it 
would  be  sent  along  the  coast  and  smuggled  into  the  country.  He 
therefore  stopped  all  trade,  confined  all  foreign  merchants  to  their  fac- 
tories, and  demanded  the  surrender  of  a  certain  number  of  chests,  sup- 
posed to  be  all  on  board  the  shipping.  Capt.  Elliot,  the  British 
superintendent  of  trade,  thought  it  necessary  to  comply,  to  save  his 
life  and  the  lives  of  his  countrymen.  He  required  all  Her  Majesty's 
subjects  to  deliver  to  him  the  opium  in  their  possession,  and  to  take  his 
receipts  for  it,  given  in  the  name  of  the  British  government.  Elliot 
delivered  the  opium  to  Lin,  who  destroyed  it,  by  the  command,  it  was 
said,  of  the  Emperor.  It  is  impossible  to  say  how  far  American  mer- 
chants were  concerned  in  this  traffick.  Some  of  them  had  always 
abstained  from  it  on  principle,  as  an  immoral  business.  Others  had  a 
small  quantity  in  their  possession,  when  Lin  commenced  his  operations; 
but  they  said  that  it  was  English  property.  However  that  may  have 
been,  it  w^as  transferred  to  the  possession  of  the  English,  and  given  up 
with  the  rest.  Lin  then  published  a  decree,  that  no  foreign  merchant 
should  be  allowed  to  reside  or  trade  at  Canton,  except  on  condition  that 
his  life  and  property  should  be  forfeited,  if  any  foreigner  should  be  de- 
tected in  introducing  opium  ;  thus  making  the  whole  body  of  foreigners 
responsible  for  the  offences  of  each.  By  order  of  Capt.  Elliot,  all  Brit- 
ish residents  and  shipping  then  withdrew  from  Canton  to  Macao  and 
other  places  in  the  vicinity.  Other  foreigners,  generally,  followed  their 
example.  The  American  merchants  and  shipmasters,  however,  taking 
shelter  under  their  ignorance  of  the  Chinese  language,  agreed  to  the 
conditions,  "  so  far  as  they  understood  them ;"  and  Lin,  fearing  that 
all  trade  would  be  stopped,  assented  to  the  qualification.  It  was  doubt- 
less "  understood"  by  both  parties,  that  they  should  not  smuggle  opium. 


1839.]  MISSION   TO   SI  AM.      INOCUI.ATION.  381 

nor  be  answerable  for  the  smuggling  of  it  by  others.  In  this  way,  the 
whole  foreign  trade  of  Canton  fell  into  their  hands;  and  thenceforth, 
Americans  were  regarded  with  peculiar  favor. 

Before  these  events  were  known  at  a  distance,  measures  had  been 
taken  to  reinforce  the  mission.  Mr.  Abeel  arrived  at  Canton  in  the 
latter  part  of  February.  Dr.  William  B.  Diver,  who  sailed  from  New 
York  in  May,  arrived  September  23. 

In  the  former  part  of  the  year,  the  missionaries  were  engaged  in 
study,  the  preparation  of  books  and  the  care  of  the  hospital.  The  num- 
ber of  patients  received  at  the  hospital,  from  its  establishment  to  March 
23  of  this  year,  was  6,450.  Its  existence  was  well  known  and  tacitly 
approved  by  the  government.  During  the  imprisonment  of  all  foreign- 
ers in  the  factories,  its  regular  operations  were  of  course  suspended  ;  but 
even  then,  the  officers  in  charge  applied  for  medical  assistance.  Lin 
made  minute  inquiries  of  Alan,  who  had  spent  seven  years  in  America, 
about  our  country,  its  people  and  its  institutions ;  and  on  being  told  of 
the  number  of  hospitals  and  the  mode  in  which  they  are  supported, 
expressed  his  approbation.  Mr.  Bridgman  and  Mr.  Abeel  removed  to 
Macao  about  the  last  of  May.  Dr.  Parker  remained  in  Canton,  and 
was  often  called  upon  to  give  information  concerning  western  nations, 
and  England  in  particular.  It  was  reported  in  the  newspapers,  that  by 
order  of  Lin,  he  had  translated  Vattel's  Law  of  Nations  into  Chinese. 
In  fact,  he  only  furnished  translations  of  certain  passages,  which  Lin's 
correspondence  with  Elliot  made  him  desirous  to  understand.  Before 
the  end  of  September,  all  missionaries  who  were  not  Americans,  were 
compelled  to  leave  Macao  ;  though  some  of  the  English  missionaries 
appear  to  have  remained  in  the  vicinity,  on  board  the  British  fleet,  and 
soon  to  have  returned. 

A  reinforcement  was  sent  to  the  mission  in  Siam.  The  Mission  lo  siam. 
Rev.  Messrs.  N.  S.  Benham,  J.  Caswell,  H.  S.  G.  French,  A.  Hemen- 
way  and  L.  B.  Peet,  with  their  wives.  Miss  Mary  E.  Pierce  and  Miss 
Judith  M.Taylor,  sailed  from  Boston,  July  6  ;  but  were  obhged  to  wait 
at  Singapore  for  a  passage  onwards,  and  none  of  them  reached  Bang- 
kok till  the  next  year. 

The  small-pox  had  long  been  one  of  the  most  dreadful  inocMon. 

scourges  of  Siam,  raging  annually  from  November  to  March.  There 
were  few  families  which  had  not  lost  members  by  it ;  and  of  those  who 
survived,  multitudes  were  disfigured  and  many  were  blind.  The  phy- 
sicians belonging  to  the  mission  had  attempted  to  introduce  vaccination, 
but  without  success  ;  for  the  virus,  procured  from  America,  from  Eng- 
land and  from  Canton  proved  wholly  inefficient.  They  resolved, 
therefore,  to  attempt  inoculation  for  the  small-pox.  The  work  was 
commenced  in  earnest  in  December,  1838.  The  king,  hearing  of  the 
successful  inoculation  of  some  of  the  children  of  the  missionaries  and 
others,  sent  a  number  of  his  slaves  to  be  inoculated,  and  several  of  the 
royal  physicians  to  learn  the  art.  Dr.  Bradley  wrote  a  treatise  on  the 
subject  for  the  king,  which  was  presented  through  the  prah  klang. 


382  HISTORY  OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

Another  was  written  for  the  use  of  the  Siamese  physicians.  The  Paw 
Maw,  that  is,  the  Father  of  Doctors,  who  is  the  king's  brother,  called 
repeatedly  for  instruction.  January  17,  he  informed  Dr.  Bradley  that 
more  than  a  thousand  persons  had  been  inoculated  by  the  king's  per- 
sonal physicians,  and  innumerable  others  by  the  physicians  of  the  com- 
mon people,  and  in  every  case  it  had  operated  favorably.  The  work 
went  on  till  the  hot  season  commenced,  when  it  was  found  to  be  less 
safe,  and  was  postponed  till  the  return  of  cool  weather.  The  king  then 
bestowed  honorary  rewards  on  thirty  or  more  of  the  royal  physicians. 
By  his  order,  the  second  prah  klang  presented  to  Dr.  Bradley  three 
changs*  of  silver,  saying  :  "  His  sacred  magnificent  majesty  would 
present  this  sum  of  money  to  thee,  the  American  doctor,  as  a  testimony 
of  his  unfeigned  gratitude  for  thy  very  benevolent  services  in  teaching 
the  royal  physicians  the  art  of  inoculation,  and  thy  success  in  bringing 
into  Siam  this  great  boon,  which  has  already  saved  many  lives."  Dr. 
Bradley  replied  by  letter,  informing  "  his  magnificent  majesty"  that  he 
had  received  "  the  sacred  royal  free  gift,"  and  intended  to  expend  it  in 
preparing  and  publishing  medical  and  surgical  treatises  for  the  royal 
physicians  and  the  people's  physicians,  "  that  they  may  be  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  people  of  Siam  universally,  helping  them  to  increase  in 
prosperity,  health  and  happiness." 

Priiumg  for  the  king.  Jq  April, "  hls  sacrcd  magnificent  majesty"  had  resolved 
to  suppress  the  opium  traflftck  in  his  kingdom,  as  it  was  rapidly  increas- 
ing and  doing  immense  mischief.  He  sent  to  the  mission  to  borrow 
their  printing  apparatus  for  ten  days,  to  strike  off  3000  copies  of  his 
proclamation  on  the  subject.  But  having  learned  the  difficulty  of  remo- 
ving it,  and  being  informed  that  the  missionaries  would  gladly  print  as 
many  copies  as  his  majesty  should  desire,  he  finding  the  paper,  and  that 
they  could  strike  off  2000  copies  a  day,  he  sent  the  manuscript,  and  or- 
dered 10,000  copies.  This  was  the  first  public  document  ever  printed  in 
Siam.  The  manuscript  was  sent  home,  and  is  preserved  in  the  library 
of  the  Board. 

Station  ai  Anghin.  Thc  mlssiou  was  dcslrous  to  commence  a  new  station, 

at  some  distance  from  the  capital,  both  as  a  health  station,  and  as  a 
means  of  extending  their  influence  through  the  country.  As  the  place 
for  it,  Mr.  Robinson  and  Dr.  Tracy  selected  Anghin,  a  promontory  on 
the  eastern  side  of  the  gulf;  and  as  there  was  no  law  against  it,  they 
commenced  building  a  house.  The  governor  of  the  province  of  Bang- 
pasoi  inquired  into  their  proceedings,  and  gave  them  permission  to  finish 
their  house,  but  advised  them  to  obtain  the  prah  klang's  consent  before 
moving  into  it.  His  consent  was  cheerfully  granted,  and  they  removed 
their  families  to  Anghin.  But  after  the  printing  of  the  proclamation, 
the  prah  klang  requested  them  to  return  to  Bangkok,  as,  in  the  excite- 
ment produced  by  the  suppression  of  the  opium  trafl^ick,  the  king  might 
choose  to  have  them  inside  the  capital.     They  immediately  complied. 

*  A  chang  is  80  ticals,  or  about  48  dollars. 


1839.]  BORNEO.      MISSION   COMMENCED.      GREECE.  383 

It  having  become  evident  that  Mrs.  Tracy  could  not  endure  the  cli- 
mate of  Bangkok,  Dr.  Tracy  sailed  with  her  for  Singapore  in  June. 
They  finally  arrived  at  New  York  in  March  of  the  next  year.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Robbins  also  left  the  mission,  and  arrived  at  New  York  a  few  days 
later. 

The  labors  of  the  Singapore  mission  proceeded  as  usu-  Singapore. 

al,  and  afforded  little  to  record.  The  arrangements  for  Chinese  printing 
were  somewhat  improved.  In  the  seminary  there  were  forty  pupils ; 
one  of  whom,  a  Chinese  by  birth,  appeared  to  be  truly  pious.  The 
mission  was  deeply  afflicted  by  the  death  of  Mrs.  Wood,  on  the  8th  of 
March. 

Mr.  Doty,  of  the  mission  to  Borneo,  arrived  at  Sambas  Bomeo.  Mission 
on  the  17th  of  June,  and  Mr.  Youngblood  at  Pontianak  on  '—-<'•• 
the  19th  of  September.  Mr.  Nevius  left  Singapore  for  Pontianak  about 
the  last  of  November,  and  arrived  not  far  from  the  commencement  of 
the  next  year.  Miss  Condit,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Nevius,  doubtless  arrived 
at  the  same  time.  Of  course,  little  could  be  done  this  year,  except  to 
explore  the  country,  and  prepare  for  future  operations.  Mrs.  Ennis 
found  it  necessary  to  return  to  the  United  States,  and  arrived  at  Salem, 
November  26.  Mr.  Thomson  and  Mr.  Pohlman  were  spending  their 
year  at  Batavia,  as  required  by  the  Dutch  government ;  and  there  Mrs. 
Thomson  died  on  the  17th  of  November. 

Through  the  Rev.  Robert  Baird,  the  Board  had  some  communication 
with  the  government  of  Holland,  with  respect  to  the  restrictions  on 
missionary  labor  in  Netherlands  India.  It  was  ascertained  that  those 
restrictions  did  not  originate  with  the  colonial  authorities,  but  emanated 
from  the  government  at  home ;  and  that  they  did  not  arise  from  any 
hostility  to  missions,  or  to  American  missionaries,  but  from  causes 
which  would  not  be  suspected  by  any  person  not  minutely  acquainted 
with  the  politics  of  Europe  and  India.  The  subject  is  still  under  con- 
sideration. 

Both  branches  of  the  mission  in  Greece   made  some  Greece, 

progress  in  their  work.  The  chapel  at  Athens  was  finished,  by  the 
hberality  of  a  fev/  gentlemen  in  New  York,  and  was  opened  for  worship 
early  in  July.  An  increased  amount  of  printing  was  done.  Among 
the  new  works  issued,  was  Baxter's  Saints'  Everlasting  Rest,  translated 
by  Dr.  King  into  modern  Greek.  The  mission  had  no  press,  and  for- 
merly had  all  its  printing  done  at  Smyrna.  It  was  now  done  at  Athens, 
by  native  Greek  printers,  on  contract.  This  is  doubtless  the  best  ar- 
rangement for  missionary  printing,  wherever  competent  and  trustworthy 
printers  can  be  found ;  as  it  relieves  the  mission  from  a  great  burden  of 
secular  cares. 

The  Lancasterian  School  at  Ariopolis  was  opened  on  the  30th  of 
October.  The  building  had  been  ready  for  some  time  ;  but  there  were 
no  teachers,  except  such  as  had  been  educated  at  the  public  expense, 
and  were  bound  to  serve  for  a  specified  time  in  the  government  schools. 
After  so  much  delay,  the  missionaries  at  Athens,  aided  by  Mr.  Perdica- 


384  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

lis,  the  American  Consul,  procured  a  teacher  from  the  government. 
Before  the  end  of  the  year,  the  school  contained  about  170  scholars, — 
as  many  as  the  house  could  accommodate. — Mrs.  Houston  being  threat- 
ened with  consumption,  her  husband  accompanied  her  to  Alexandria, 
and  afterwards  to  Cairo,  where  she  died  on  the  24th  of  November.  As 
there  was  no  burying-ground  for  Protestants  in  Upper  Egypt,  her  re- 
mains were  brought  to  Alexandria  for  interment.  Mr.  Houston  returned 
to  his  station,  December  20,  having  been  absent  more  than  six  months. 
constnniinopie.  At  Constantinoplc,  the  missionary  force  was  unusually 

small.  Mr.  Dwight  did  not  return  from  the  United  States  till  Septem- 
ber 4.  Mr.  Schauffler  left  about  the  first  of  May,  for  Vienna,  to  super- 
intend the  printing  of  the  Hebrew-Spanish  Old  Testament.  He  went 
by  way  of  Odessa,  and  while  there  and  among  the  German  colonists  in 
that  part  of  the  Russian  dominions,  did  much  to  rekindle  and  sustain 
the  revival  which  had  been  long  in  progress.  May  30,  Mr.  Homes 
left,  to  join  Dr.  Grant  in  exploring  Mesopotamia.  Mr.  Hamlin  had 
arrived  early  in  February,  but  the  study  of  languages  demanded  nearly 
all  his  strength.  During  a  very  trying  season,  therefore,  Mr.  Goodell 
was  almost  alone. 

The  Persecution.  This  ycar  was  distinguished  by  the  persecution  of  the 

pious  Armenians.  None  but  the  persecutors  themselves  can  give  a  full 
account  of  all  the  sordid  motives,  the  base  intrigues  and  unprincipled 
instruments  by  which  it  was  accomplished.  The  principal  facts,  how- 
ever, seem  to  be  clearly  established,  and  may  now  be  given  to  the 
world. 

The  unwillingness  of  wicked  men  to  be  reproved  before  all  and  dis- 
turbed in  their  own  consciences  by  the  holy  lives  of  others,  was  doubt- 
less, as  usual,  the  fundamental  motive.  As  usual,  too,  a  corrupt 
priesthood  dreaded  the  progress  of  a  reformation  which  would  deprive 
them  of  their  sinful  gains.  Private  interests,  also,  were  thought  to  be 
in  danger.  A  few  persons  had  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  Armenian 
printing;  but  now,  the  mission  was  furnishing  better  books,  more 
elegantly  printed,  and  at  a  lower  price.  The  patronage  of  education 
had  been  almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  a  few  bankers,  and  they  were 
enabled  to  place  young  men,  educated  at  their  expense  and  attached  to 
their  interests,  in  many  situations  of  profit  and  influence  connected  with 
the  Turkish  government.  Now  young  men  from  the  middle  ranks  of 
society,  educated  under  the  inspection  of  the  mission,  were  eagerly 
sought  to  fill  such  places.  For  the  year  past,  one  of  them  had  been  in 
the  service  of  the  Capudan  Pasha,  or  Lord  High  Admiral.  But  above 
all,  the  interests  of  the  great  Armenian  College,  which  the  bankers,  in 
the  name  and  at  the  expense  of  the  nation,  had  established  at  Scutary, 
were  thought  to  be  in  jeopardy.  The  Armenian  youth  who  were  con- 
fined there  for  an  education,  sometimes  ran  away ;  and  others  were 
unwilling  to  go.  This  was  ascribed,  in  a  great  degree,  to  the  popular- 
ity of  Hohannes,  whose  school,  while  it  existed,  had  been  so  attractive. 
Boghos  Physica,  too,  was  thought  to  be  a  very  dangerous  man.     His 


1839.]  CONSTANTINOPLE.      THE   PERSECUTION.  385 

health  had  failed,  and  he  had  no  means  of  subsistence  except  a  small 
school,  supported  in  part  by  the  mission.  But  his  reputation  for  learn- 
ing remained  ;  his  early  connection  with  the  missionaries  was  remem- 
bered, and  the  professors  at  Scutary  were  afraid  that  his  influence  might 
injure  their  college.  Members  of  the  Romish  church  had  their  usual 
motives  for  stirring  up  persecution  against  Protestants. 

The  movement  seems  to  have  begun  by  intrigues  among  the  Arme- 
nian bankers.  Means  were  found  to  deprive  such  bankers  as  were 
friendly  to  the  mission,  of  all  their  influence.  One,  who  was  a  partic- 
ular friend  of  Boghos,  belonged  to  a  firm  of  three  brothers,  who  were 
bankers  to  the  Grand  Vizier.  About  the  commencement  of  the  year, 
they  were  suddenly  and  unaccountably  removed  from  office,  and  their 
firm  closed.  This  work  went  on,  till  the  whole  power  of  "  the  nation" 
fell  into  the  hands  of  three  men.  One  of  these  three  was  the  Sultan's 
Chief  Architect ;  and  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  and  advisers  was 
a  papal  Armenian,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  mint. 

Meanwhile,  inferior  actors  were  exciting  popular  prejudice  against 
the  "  Evangelical"  party.  The  most  active  was  a  Jew,  who  had  been 
baptized  some  years  before,  and  having  resided  in  missionary  families, 
pretended  to  know  all  about  their  objects  and  their  plans.  He  indus- 
triously propagated  the  most  exciting  slanders  he  could  invent.  A 
young  infidel  Armenian  poet,  who  had  obtained  a  printing  press  and  a 
professorship  at  Scutary,  was  an  active  fellow-laborer  with  the  Jew. 
An  ignorant  and  immoral  bishop  from  the  interior  labored  hard  against 
Protestantism,  and  in  support  of  the  forms  of  his  church.  Meeting  one 
of  the  teachers  in  a  Lancasterian  school  with  which  the  mission  had 
never  had  any  intercourse,  and  learning  that  he  taught  chemistry,  the 
bishop  insisted  that  chemistry  was  Protestantism,  or  at  least  was  some- 
thing that  would  transform  all  the  scholars  into  Protestants.  A  quarrel 
ensued,  which  came  to  blows.  The  bishop  struck  the  teacher,  and  then 
raised  such  an  excitement  among  the  populace  against  him  and  the 
"  Evangelicals,"  as  drove  him  from  his  school.  These  are  specimens 
of  the  preparations  made  in  every  rank  of  society,  from  the  lowest,  to 
the  very  gate  of  the  Sultan's  palace.  Probably,  the  slanders  entered  the 
palace  itself.  It  was  reported  at  Scutary,  that  a  book  in  Turkish, 
containing  an  attack  upon  Muhammedanism,  had  been  sent  to  the  Sul- 
tan ;  that  he  had  called  up  the  papal  Armenian,  the  head  of  the  mint, 
to  give  an  account  of  it ;  and  that  he  had  laid  it  to  the  charge  of  the  Prot- 
estant missionaries,  with  whom  some  of  the  Armenians  were  associated. 
The  Sultan,  it  was  said,  ordered  the  Grand  Vizier  to  inquire  into  the 
affair.  The  Armenian  mission,  however,  had  never  printed  a  book  m 
Turkish. 

But  one  thing  now  remained  to  be  done  by  way  of  preparation. 
The  Armenian  Patriarch,  it  was  said,  had  no  energy,  and  especially,  he 
showed  no  energy  in  putting  down  the  "  Evangelicals."  The  Chief 
Architect  and  his  two  coadjutors,  therefore,  determined  to  put  another 
in  his  place.     The  man  of  their  choice  had,  many  years  before,  been  the 

49 


386  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839, 

Patriarch's  vicar.  Two  years  before,  they  had  offered  him  the  patri- 
archate ;  but  he  refused  to  accept  it,  unless  the  Synod  would  agree  not 
to  oppose  his  will  in  any  particular.  To  such  terms,  the  bankers  then 
would  not  accede;  but  the  three  who  had  now  grasped  the  whole 
power  of  "  the  nation,"  invited  him  to  come  on  his  own  terms.  About 
the  middle  of  February,  he  arrived  in  Constantinople,  and  began  to 
act  as  a  colleague  or  assistant  Patriarch  ;  but,  as  he  had  been  called  to 
execute  wath  energy  the  designs  of  the  triumvirate,  the  whole  executive 
power  was  virtually  put  into  his  hands,  and  the  old  Patriarch  was 
degraded  into  a  mere  form. 

February  19,  Hohannes  was  arrested,  and  thrown  into  prison, 
without  trial,  and  without  hearing  his  accusation.  It  had,  however, 
been  reported,  that  he  was  "  a  great  seed-sower,"  by  whose  influence 
half  the  bishops,  priests  and  people  had  already  been  made  Protestants. 
It  was  said,  too,  that  he  was  a  great  sorcerer  ;  that  he  would  cut  out  a 
piece  of  paper,  and  it  would  become  a  piece  of  gold ;  and  that  by 
fastening  his  eye  upon  a  man,  he  would  obtain  complete  mastery  over 
his  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds,  so  that  his  victim  could  never  break 
the  charm,  even  when  absent  from  his  enchanter.  By  such  reports,  a 
violent  excitement  had  been  raised  against  him.  On  the  same  day,  Bog- 
hos  was  arrested,  and  thrown  into  the  same  prison.  It  was  reported  that 
these  arrests  were  made  by  order  of  the  Turkish  government,  which 
accused  the  prisoners  as  rebels ;  that  they  would  be  banished ;  that  the 
firmans  were  prepared  beforehand ;  and  that  there  was  at  the  patri- 
archate a  list  of  500  suspected  persons,  among  whom  were  bishops, 
priests  and  bankers. 

They  were  banished  to  Kaisariyeh,  {Ccesarea  ad  Argseum,)  in  the 
interior  of  Asia  Minor,  about  400  miles  from  Constantinople.  They 
were  sent  off,  without  trial,  examination  or  accusation.  At  their  de- 
parture, February  23,  the  Patriarch,  bishops  and  priests  gathered  around 
them,  and  bestowed  their  benedictions  upon  them.  The  Patriarch  took 
leave  of  them  with  tears.  They  were  furnished  with  money  and  cloth- 
ing, partly  at  the  expense  of  "  the  nation,"  and  partly  by  the  father  of 
Hohannes.  Their  Turkish  guard  carried  them  to  his  mother's  house  at 
Scutary.  She  wept  at  their  hard  treatment,  and  said  that  "  the  nation" 
must  be  very  bad,  to  exile  such  good  men.  The  guard  sent  back  word, 
that  Boghos  was  unable  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  the  journey ;  but  he 
received  positive  orders  to  go  on,  and  carry  him,  alive  or  dead,  to 
Kaisariyeh.     They  set  forward  on  the  evening  of  the  26th. 

Meanwhile,  all  the  pious  at  Constantinople  were  filled  with  anxiety 
and  apprehension.  Reports  were  circulating,  that  one  and  another  was 
to  be  banished,  and  that  the  church  constables  were  in  pursuit  of  them. 
Intercourse  with  the  missionaries  w^as  considered  dangerous,  and  was 
nearly  suspended ;  but  the  general  constancy  of  the  pious,  while  ex- 
pecting banishment,  confiscation  and  the  bastinado,  gave  cheering 
evidence  of  the  genuineness  of  their  faith.  One  of  them  exclaimed 
with  trmmph,  that  God  had  sent  missionaries  to  Kaisariyeh,  at  the  ex- 


1839.]  CONSTANTINOPLE.      THE  PERSECUTION.  387 

pense  of  "  the  nation."  Booksellers  were  ordered  to  send  to  the 
patriarchate,  copies  of  all  the  books  received  from  the  mission.  A 
patriarchal  circular  was  issued  March  3,  forbidding  the  people  to  use 
those  books,  and  requiring  all  who  had  any  in  their  possession,  to  de- 
liver them  to  their  bishops  or  confessors.  The  circular  was  read  at  the 
patriarchal  church  by  the  adjunct  Patriarch.  He  acknowledged  that 
nothing  bad  had  been  found  in  the  books  already  published ;  but  if  the 
work  were  suffered  to  go  on,  something  bad  might  be  published  here- 
after, and  a  schism  would  be  made,  which  could  never  be  healed. 

The  exiles  were  not  without  consolation  on  their  way.  On  their 
arrival  at  Nicomedia,  the  little  band  of  the  pious  dropped  their  work, 
ran  to  the  post  house,  and  had  a  prayer  meeting  with  them.  Boghos 
sent  word  to  the  chief  man  of  the  Armenians  there,  that  he  must  in- 
terfere in  their  behalf,  or  answer  for  his  neglect  at  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ.  The  man  detained  the  guard  at  his  own  expense,  and  wrote  to 
Constantinople  in  their  behalf.  They  were  lodged  in  the  church,  where 
their  "  Evangelical"  brethren  spent  every  evening  with  them  in  Chris- 
tian conversation  and  worship.  An  answer  was  received  from  Con- 
stantinople, permitting  Boghos  to  remain  at  Nicomedia ;  but  his  health 
had  rapidly  recruited,  and  they  had  gone  on  a  day  or  two  before  its 
arrival.  Their  Turkish  guard,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  took  advantage 
of  his  power  to  extort  money  from  them;  and  at  Angora,  Hohannes 
was  obliged  to  draw  on  his  father  for  two  thousand  piasters.  The 
Armenian  bishop  of  Angora,  an  old  friend  of  the  family,  took  the 
bill,  and  raised  the  money  upon  it.  On  their  arrival  at  Kaisariyeh, 
many  of  the  Armenians  there  inquired  for  what  they  had  been  banished ; 
and  learning  that  it  was  for  regarding  the  Bible  as  the  only  authorita- 
tive religious  guide,  avow^ed  themselves  of  the  same  opinion. 

Meanwhile,  the  work  of  persecution  went  on  at  Constantinople. 
Der  Kivork,  the  pious  priest  at  Has  Koy,  was  thrown  into  prison,  March 
14.  About  the  same  time,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Leeves,  agent  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  was  warned  by  his  landlord  to  quit  the  book- 
store he  had  hired.  His  landlord  was  the  Sultan's  Chief  Architect. 
March  22,  the  Armenian  Patriarch  had  leave  to  resign,  and  retire  to  his 
convent  near  Nicomedia  ;  and  the  next  day,  his  assistant  was  installed 
as  his  successor.  During  the  same  week,  the  Greek  Synod  and  Patri- 
arch issued  a  decree,  excommunicating  all  who  should  buy,  sell  or  read 
the  books  of  the  "  Luthero-Calvinists,"  and  condemning  in  like  manner 
the  writings  of  Korai,  the  illustrious  restorer  of  learning  among  the 
Greeks,  and  of  the  learned  Bambas,  the  friend  of  Fisk  and  Parsons. 
An  imperial  firman  was  also  published,  authorizing  and  requiring  all 
the  Patriarchs  to  look  well  to  their  several  communions,  and  keep  them 
from  infidelity  and  foreign  influence.  It  was  now  certain  that  the  Porte 
itself  was  a  party  in  the  persecution. 

Der  Kivork  was  kept  in  prison  more  than  a  month.  The  principal 
Armenians  of  Has  Koy  interceded  for  his  release,  but  were  told  to  "  stay 
at  home  and  mind  their  own  business."     About  the  20th  of  April,  he 


388  HISTORY    OF    THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

was  banished.  Two  bishops  and  a  teacher  were  banished  about  the 
same  time,  all  to  different  places.  Some  of  them  were  taken  from  their 
beds  at  midnight,  and  all  were  sent  off  without  even  the  form  of  a  trial. 

After  the  arrest  of  Hohannes,  the  mission  had  engaged  the  services 
of  Mesrob  Taliatine,  an  Armenian  deacon,  who  had  been  educated  in 
the  Bishop's  College  in  Calcutta.  He  was  born  somewhere  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Russia  and  Persia,  and  had  Russian  protection,  which  ought  to 
have  secured  him  against  the  power  of  the  Patriarch.  He  was  told  that 
the  Chief  Architect  and  his  friends  had  subscribed  the  amount  of  a  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling,  to  be  expended  in  getting  rid  of  him  in  some  way. 
He  was  summoned  by  the  dragoman  of  the  Russian  ambassador,  to  show 
his  passport,  though  he  had  done  it  already.  He  was  afterwards  arrest- 
ed, and  confined  one  night  in  the  Patriarch's  prison,  where  he  and  others 
who  were  imprisoned  for  righteousness'  sake,  conversed  and  prayed  and 
sang  hymns  till  the  dawning  of  the  day.  He  was  then  released,  and  by 
the  advice  of  the  mis  ion,  retired  to  Persia,  In  connection  with  this  case, 
the  missionaries  learned  that  the  Porte  had  made  direct  complaint,  though 
not  to  the  American  ambassador,  against  them,  as  being  engaged  in 
making  proselytes.  This  led  them  to  make  a  statement  of  facts,  both 
in  French  and  English,  for  the  use  of  ambassadors  and  others,  and  to 
call  on  several  in  person  to  make  verbal  explanations.  In  one  instance, 
and  that  a  very  important  one,  access  was  denied  them,  for  political  rea- 
sons. 

April  28,  a  bull  of  the  new  Armenian  Patriarch  was  read  in  the 
churches,  anathematizing,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost, 
all  who  should  read  the  books  of  the  missionaries,  or  have  any  intercourse 
with  them,  or  neglect  to  inform  against  others.  About  the  first  of  May, 
a  rich  banker,  well  known  as  a  friend  of  the  missionaries  and  of  Boghos, 
was  seized  and  imprisoned  in  a  hospital  as  insane  ;  but  was  released  in 
about  a  week,  on  paying  a  large  sum  to  build  up  the  college  at  Scutary, 
as  a  means  of  repairing  the  mischief  he  had  done  during  his  insanity. 
The  list  of  suspected  persons,  it  was  said,  now  amounted  to  2500  ;  of 
whom  two  bishops,  five  priests  and  several  teachers  were  forthwith  to 
be  arrested.  The  documents  in  the  possession  of  the  Board  mention  no 
more  instances  of  arrest  and  banishment ;  but  at  a  later  date,  they  speak 
of  the  return  of  several,  whose  banishment  had  not  been  mentioned. 
We  know  not,  and  probably  the  missionaries  never  knew,  the  whole  num- 
ber of  the  victims. 

About  this  time,  the  Sultan  sent  to  all  the  Patriarchs  and  the  chief 
Rabbi  of  the  Jews,  requiring  them  to  furnish  several  thousand  men  each 
for  his  army,  in  his  war  with  Muhammed  Aly.  This  unprecedented  and 
unexpected  demand  filled  them  and  their  followers  with  consternation. 
By  the  middle  of  the  month,  the  cry  was,  that  there  was  no  bread  in  the 
city,  that  water  had  failed,  and  that  business  was  at  a  stand.  The  per- 
secuting powers  were  all  in  deep  distress.  An  army,  however,  was 
raised,  and  marched  to  drive  the  troops  of  Muhammed  Aly  from  Syria. 
The  armies,  estimated  at  about  80,000  men  each,  met  on  the  plains  of 


[1839.  CONSTANTINOPLE.      THE   PERSECUTION.  389 

Nezib,  not  far  from  Aleppo,  on  the  24th  of  June.  That  of  the  Turks 
was  utterly  annihilated,  and  the  Sultan  had  no  means  left,  of  resisting  the 
advance  of  Ibrahim  to  the  capital  itself.  But  the  tidings  never  reached 
his  ears.  He  died  on  the  first  of  July  ;  and  a  few  days  after,  the  Capu- 
dan  Pasha  surrendered  the  Turkish  fleet  to  Muhammed  Aly.  On  the 
11th  of  July,  the  young  Sultan,  Abdiil  Medjid,  was  girded  with  the  sa- 
cred sword  of  spiritual  and  temporal  power  over  the  Ottoman  Empire  ; 
a  ceremony  equivalent  to  coronation.  The  news  of  the  entire  loss  of 
his  army  and  navy  arrived  in  a  few  days,  and  the  empire  seemed  on  the 
eve  of  dissolution  ;  but  the  intervention  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe 
protracted  its  existence.  All  parties  seem  to  have  been  in  doubt  what 
course  the  new  Sultan  would  pursue  in  respect  to  persecution.  The  fear 
of  arrests  and  banishments  remained,  but  no  more  of  them  took  place. 
The  apostate  Jew,  who  had  been  foremost  in  defaming  the  missionaries,  had 
professed  himself  a  Muhammedan,  to  avoid  punishment  for  theft  and  de- 
ception ;  and  for  other  crimes,  subsequently  committed,  he  was  strangled 
by  the  Turks  and  thrown  into  the  Bosphorus  on  the  27th  of  July. 
August  12,  a  fire  broke  out  in  Pera,  the  northern  suburb  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  consumed  between  3000  and  4000  houses,  an  immense 
amount  of  property,  and  some  lives. 

About  the  middle  of  August,  the  Armenian  Synod  met,  to  consider  the 
case  of  the  exiles.  The  debates  were  violent  and  protracted,  and  threat- 
ened to  end  in  a  schism  ;  but  at  last  it  was  resolved  that  a  part  of  them 
should  be  recalled  from  banishment.  Hohannes,  however,  was  thought 
too  dangerous  a  man  to  live  in  the  capital,  and  was  not  to  be  recalled. 

Confidence  began  gradually  to  return,  and  the  "Evangelicals"  slow- 
ly and  cautiously  resumed  their  intercourse  with  the  mission,  and  grew 
bolder  in  their  efforts  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Some  re- 
turned from  banishment  and  were  restored  to  their  former  stations.  They 
now  uttered  their  convictions  with  less  reserve  than  formerly.  Boghos 
wrote  a  submissive  letter  to  the  Patriarch,  asking  permission  to  return, 
which  was  granted.  Hohannes  wrote  several  respectful  letters  ;  but 
they  contained  no  confession  of  any  error  or  crime,  and  his  request  was 
denied.  The  bishop  of  Kaisariyeh,  too,  wrote  that  he  had  watched  Ho- 
hannes strictly,  and  found  him  "  a  sinless  man." 

His  friends  thought  it  time  to  exert  themselves  for  his  release,  which 
he  had  advised  them  not  to  do  at  the  time  of  his  banishment.  His  case 
was  therefore  laid  before  an  English  gentleman,  who  was  a  physician 
in  the  Sultan's  palace.  He  laid  it  before  one  of  the  sisters  of  the 
late  Sultan.  The  result  was,  that  on  the  14th  of  November,  the  impe- 
rial request  for  Hohannes'  release  was  sent  to  the  Patriarch.  The  Pa- 
triarch resorted  to  various  devices,  first  to  procure  the  reversal,  and  then 
to  delay  the  execution  of  the  order  ;  and  finally,  to  obtain  the  credit  of 
recalling  Hohannes  voluntarily,  as,  he  said,  it  would  be  a  shame  to  be 
compelled  to  do  it  by  order  of  the  Sultan.  He  represented  Hohannes  as 
a  bad  man,  and  a  magician.  He  required  unreasonable  and  absurd 
pledges  for  his  behavior  after  his  return.     He  falsely  informed  the  Sul- 


390  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1839. 

tana  that  the  order  for  his  return  had  been  sent.  By  such  means,  he 
avoided  obedience  till  February  20,  1840,  when  he  placed  the  order  in 
the  hands  of  Hohannes'  father.  It  was  addressed  by  the  Turkish  minis- 
ter of  foreign  affairs  to  the  governor  of  Kaisariyeh,  and  had  on  it  the 
Sultan's  mark,  and  the  seals  of  several  high  officers  of  state. 

The  influence  of  this  persecution  was  felt  in  various  and  distant  parts 
of  the  empire.  When  the  deposed  Patriarch  arrived  at  Nicomedia,  he 
found  the  Armenians  there  in  a  state  of  high  excitement,  and  ready  to 
commence  efforts  to  put  down  the  "  Evangelicals  j"  but  he  told  them 
that  they  knew  nothing  of  the  true  state  of  the  case,  and  that  if  they  at- 
tempted to  do  any  thing  about  it,  they  would  be  almost  sure  to  do 
mischief. 

Broosa.  Soon  aftcr  the  persecution  commenced  at  Constantino- 

ple, a  vigorous  attack  was  made  on  the  mission  at  Broosa.  Both  the 
Armenian  and  Greek  bishops  preached  violently  against  its  schools, 
and  all  its  operations,  and  anathemas  were  pronounced  on  all  who 
should  have  any  intercourse  with  the  missionaries.  Every  book  prepar- 
ed by  the  missionaries  was  removed  from  both  the  Greek  and  the  Arme- 
nian schools  in  Broosa.  A  Greek  priest  was  sent  to  Demir  Tash  and 
Philadar,  to  seize  the  books  and  cards  used  there  in  the  schools.  All 
people  who  had  such  books  in  their  possession,  were  ordered  to  deliver 
them  up.  About  500  or  600  books,  among  which  w^ere  copies  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Psalms,  were  burnt  by  order 
of  the  Greek  bishop  in  front  of  his  church.  The  teachers  of  several 
schools  supported  by  the  Greeks  themselves,  were  ejected  from  office, 
because  they  were  too  "  Evangelical,"  and  a  Greek  priest  at  Demir 
Tash  was  deposed  for  the  same  reason.  Mr.  Powers'  Armenian  assist- 
ant found  it  necessary  to  leave  his  service.  The  owners  of  the  houses 
in  which  the  missionaries  lived,  were  threatened  with  excommunication 
and  banishment,  if  they  did  not  eject  them.  The  owner  of  Mr.  Pow- 
ers' house  was  excommunicated,  and  the  bishop  was  making  arrange- 
ments to  empty  it,  when  the  case  was  laid  before  the  American  consul, 
and  by  him  before  the  governor  of  the  city,  who  secured  to  them  the 
possession  of  the  houses  they  had  hired.  At  one  time,  an  order  was 
obtained  from  the  Porte  itself,  for  the  removal  of  one  of  the  mission- 
aries ;  but  the  death  of  the  Sultan  occurred  soon  after,  and  it  was  not 
enforced.  From  this  time,  the  violence  of  the  opposition  gradually  sub- 
sided. These  things  convinced  some  of  the  more  intelligent  of  the 
people,  that  their  clergy  were  enemies  of  the  light,  and  from  interested 
motives,  wished  to  keep  the  people  in  ignorance. 
Trebizond.  Thc  influencc  of  the  persecution  was  felt  at  Trebizond. 

The  Armenian  bishop,  who  had  never  dared  to  favor  the  mission  open- 
ly, was  removed  to  Zeitin,  a  barbarous  place  not  far  from  Kaisariyeh. 
His  successor  came,  and  published  the  orders  of  the  new  Patriarch,  for- 
bidding intercourse  with  the  missionaries,  and  requiring  the  surrender 
of  all  their  books.  The  people  were  greatly  alarmed,  and  the  order 
was  partially  obeyed.     The  Armenian  assistant  who  left  Smyrna  in  the 


1839.]  SYRIA   AND  PALESTINE.  391 

spring  to  avoid  persecution,  was  employed  by  the  Armenians  themselves 
to  teach  a  grammar  school,  in  which  employment  his  usefulness  and 
popularity  rapidly  increased. 

A  new  station  was  commenced   at  Erzeroom,  in  an-  Erz.room. 

cient  Armenia ;  an  important  city  of  30,000  inhabitants,  on  the  moun- 
tains, near  the  sources  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Aras,  and  on  the  road 
from  Trebizond  to  Ooroomiah.  The  climate  is  much  like  that  of  the 
colder  parts  of  New  England,  but  less  changeable.  It  has  an  Armenian 
population  of  three  or  four  thousand  ;  and  below,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates,  are  Erzengan,  Arabkir,  and  other  towns  where  Armenians 
are  numerous.  Mr.  Jackson,  from  Trebizond,  arrived  at  Erzeroom,  to 
make  preliminary  arrangements,  on  the  30th  of  April.  While  he  was 
there,  a  letter  was  read  from  the  patriarchate,  warning  the  people 
against  the  Americans,  forbidding  them  to  patronize  any  schools  they 
might  open,  or  to  buy  any  of  their  books,  and  ordering  them  to  burn 
such  books,  wherever  found.  A  house  having  been  obtained  through 
the  kind  assistance  of  the  English  consul,  he  arrived  there  with  his  fam- 
ily on  the  11th  of  September. 

The  persecution  did  not  affect  the  mission  in  Syria  and  syna  and  p.ie.tine. 
Palestine,  as  they  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Egypt;  but  the  mission- 
ary force  was  much  reduced  by  the  absence  of  its  members.  At  Beirut 
were  only  Mr.  Thomson  and  Mr.  Hebard,  their  wives,  Miss  Tilden  and 
two  native  helpers.  At  Jerusalem  there  was  only  Mr.  Lanneau  and 
one  native  helper.  A  disease  of  the  eyes  drove  Mr.  Lanneau  from  his 
station  for  several  months ;  and  on  returning  from  Beirut  in  July,  the 
disease  returned  and  impeded  his  labors.  The  press  at  Beirut  was  idle 
nearly  all  the  year,  for  want  of  funds  and  a  printer.  Yet  some  progress 
was  made.  A  large  and  convenient  chapel  was  obtained  at  Beirut,  in 
which  two  Arabic  services  were  held  on  the  Sabbath,  between  which 
public  worship  was  attended  in  English  at  the  American  consulate. 
The  seminary  and  other  schools  went  on  as  usual ;  for  the  scholars  were 
mostly  from  famihes  which  had  learned  to  care  little  for  ecclesiastical 
thunders.  The  opposition  of  the  Greek  church,  too,  was  dying  away. 
The  distribution  of  books  and  tracts  continued.  In  this  work,  the  mis- 
sion had  an  efficient  coadjutor  at  Tripoli.  It  was  Abu  Yusuf,  a  blind 
old  man  of  the  Greek  church.  Though  worn  down  with  age  and  dis- 
ease, he  went  about  the  country  with  a  hired  donkey  loaded  with  books 
and  a  little  boy  to  lead  him,  zealous  to  do,  in  the  short  remnant  of  his 
life,  what  he  could  for  the  salvation  of  men.  His  labors  were  most 
abundant  in  the  district  of  Akkar,  northeast  of  Tripoli,  where  he  was 
encouraged  by  the  cordial  approbation  of  the  Greek  bishop  Zacharias. 
He  and  his  son  also  superintended  a  school  in  Tripoli. 

During  the  hot  months,  when  a  residence  at  Beirftt  is  Tiwnnne,. 

unsafe,  Mr.  Thomson  retired  to  'Areiya,  a  Christian  village,  and  Mr.  He- 
bard to  'Ainab,  where  two  thirds  of  the  people  were  Druzes,  and  where 
no  missionary  had  ever  before  been.  He  found  the  Druzes  very  acces- 
sible, and  anxious  for  instruction.     Many  of  them  seemed  desirous  to 


392  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

know  how  they  might  be  saved.  During  the  winter,  some  of  them  had 
continued  to  resort  to  Beirut  for  instruction,  notwithstanding  the  deep 
snows  and  threats  of  vengeance  from  the  Emir  Beshir  ;  and  during  the 
summer  and  autumn,  the  whole  nation  seemed  to  be  accessible. 

The  Rev.  Charles  S,  Sherman,  with  his  wife,  arrived  at  Beiriit  early 
in  September,  and  at  Jerusalem  on  the  24th  of  October.  On  the  15th 
of  October,  the  Rev.  Elias  R.  Beadle  and  his  wife  arrived  at  Beirut,  to 
reinforce  that  station. 

cyp'-"^  The  persecution  did  not  extend  to  Cyprus,  though  under 

Turkish  jurisdiction  ;  for  the  Christian  inhabitants  are  not  Armenians, 
but  Greeks,  and  yet  not  subject  to  the  Greek  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople. And  moreover,  spiritual  rehgion  had  made  no  progress  among 
them.  The  missionaries  therefore  continued  to  circulate  books  and 
promote  education  as  formerly.  In  July,  the  Greeks  determined  to  add 
four  new  schools  to  the  six  already  existing,  and  to  raise  53,000  pias- 
ters, or  about  |2500,  for  their  support.  Of  this  sum,  the  archbishop 
was  to  pay  6000  piasters,  the  three  bishops  3000  each,  the  Kykkou 
monastery,  the  richest  in  the  island,  6000,  and  24,000  were  to  come 
from  the  public  treasury.  Seven  of  these  schools  contained  about  280 
scholars.  Till  this  year  there  was  no  school  for  girls  in  Cyprus.  In 
April,  Mrs.  Ladd  commenced  teaching  seven  or  eight  girls.  She  sus- 
pended her  labors  during  the  hot  season,  but  on  the  10th  of  October, 
opened  a  regular  school,  in  which  at  the  end  of  the  year,  were  eighteen 
scholars.  The  death  of  Mr.  Pease,  by  fever,  August  28,  was  a  heavy 
loss.  He  had  excited  high  hopes  of  usefulness.  He  had  written  a  co- 
pious grammar  of  the  modern  Greek  language,  and  nearly  completed 
the  translation  of  it,  and  had  just  finished  a  treatise  on  the  Sabbath. 
He  had  commenced  preaching  to  a  few  Greeks  in  his  own  house.  After 
his  death,  this  exercise  was  continued  by  Mr.  Ladd,  and  the  congrega- 
tion slowly  increased. 

Nestnrians.  Jhc  mlssloH  to  the  Nestorians  commenced  the  year  in 

affliction.  On  the  third  of  January,  Mrs.  Grant  was  seized  with  a  fever, 
which  ended  in  death  on  the  14th.  The  Nestorian  clergy  connected 
with  the  mission,  many  of  whom  had  been  her  pupils,  were  deeply  af- 
fected by  her  sickness  and  especially  by  her  solemn  farewell.  During 
her  sickness,  public  prayers  were  offered  in  the  church  for  her  recovery. 
After  her  death,  three  of  the  bishops  proposed  that  she  should  be  buried 
within  the  walls  of  their  church,  "  where  none  but  very  holy  men  were 
ever  interred ;"  and,  said  one  of  them,  "  we  will  dig  her  grave  with  our 
own  hands.  She  has  done  so  much  for  us  and  our  people,  that  we  want 
to  do  something  for  her."  A  subdued  and  tender  spirit  seemed  to  rest 
on  all  who  had  known  her,  and  serious  inquiries  were  excited  concerning 
that  piety  which  enables  its  possessor  to  die  in  peace.  This  better 
state  of  religious  feeling  seemed  to  continue  through  the  year,  especially 
in  the  Seminary.  Priest  Dunka,  from  one  of  the  independent  tribes, 
gave  indications  of  piety.  This  man  having  learned  the  alphabet  in  his 
childhood,  became  a  reader  without  further  instruction  and  without  en- 


1839.]  THE  NESTORIANS.  393 

couragement,  while  tending  his  father's  flocks  on  the  mountains,  and 
was  now  at  Oorooraiah,  both  as  a  learner  and  as  a  helper.  He  spent 
about  three  months  of  the  summer  among  his  native  mountains,  preach- 
ing the  gospel  in  the  villages  around  his  home.  It  was  a  region  in 
which  little  of  the  gospel  had  been  heard  for  generations,  except  the 
liturgy  in  an  unknown  tongue ;  and  the  people,  he  said,  "  were  as  eager 
in  listening,  as  people  dying  of  thirst  are  for  cold  water."  In  Septem- 
ber, Robert  Glen,  son  of  the  Rev.  William  Glen,  of  Tabriz,  was  at 
Ooroomiah  on  a  visit,  and  there,  as  he  believed,  became  reconciled  to  God. 
He  was  born  at  Astrakhan,  where  his  father  labored  seventeen  years  as 
a  missionary.  He  now  ardently  desired  to  spend  his  life  in  missionary 
labors,  and  soon  after  began  to  assist  in  teaching  one  of  the  schools. 

The  mission  had  twelve  free  schools  in  as  many  villages,  containing 
271  male  and  22  female  pupils;  a  Sabbath  school  of  50  scholars  at 
Geog  Tapa ;  17  girls  in  the  female  boarding  school,  and  55  students  in 
the  Seminary,  taught  by  a  priest  and  a  deacon,  under  the  supervision  of 
Mr.  Stocking.  There  was  a  blind  girl,  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  at  Geog 
Tapa.  The  deacon  who  taught  the  Sabbath  school  requested  that  she 
might  attend.  Having  heard  how  the  blind  are  taught  to  read  in  Ame- 
rica, he  made  a  Syriac  alphabet  for  her  use  of  potter's  clay,  and  she 
soon  learned  to  distinguish  the  letters. 

The  papists  continued  their  efforts  to  corrupt  the  Nestorians,  and  es- 
pecially the  young  bishop  of  Ardishai,  who  had  always  stood  somewhat 
aloof  from  the  American  mission.  They  had  a  church  at  Ardishai,  and 
a  few  followers,  who  so  provoked  Mar  Gabriel  by  their  zeal  to  prose- 
lyte his  people,  that  he  went  into  their  church,  and  stripped  it  of  every 
crucifix,  image,  picture  and  charm  that  it  contained.  Still,  the  papal  bish- 
op of  Salmas  and  the  Jesuit  Bore  followed  him  with  flattery,  and  obtained 
his  consent  to  establish  a  school  among  his  people;  but  he  soon  repent- 
ed of  his  error,  and  wrote  to  Bore,  warning  him  not  to  come  into  his 
village.  Bore  was  enraged,  and  having  a  firman  from  the  king  of  Per- 
sia, permitting  him  to  establish  schools,  opened  one  at  Ardishai.  But 
Gabriel  and  the  mission  had  acted  with  energy,  and  a  school  had  been 
already  opened  under  one  of  the  best  teachers  from  the  Seminary.  It 
soon  outgrew  its  accommodations,  and  another  was  opened.  Both 
schools  contained  sixty  scholars  ;  while  the  Jesuits'  school  first  increased 
to  nine  scholars,  and  then  dwindled  to  four  or  five. 

A  health  station  was  needed  for  the  hot  season,  and  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  prince  governor,  Gavalan,  the  village  of  Mar  Yohanna,was 
selected  as  the  place.  A  Persian  khan  who  farmed  the  village,  interrupted 
the  execution  of  the  work,  by  beating  and  abusing  the  villagers.  Mar 
Yohanna  himself  was  bastinadoed,  and  one  hundred  tomans,  or  $250, 
extorted  from  the  family,  for  the  crime  of  inviting  the  missionaries  there. 
The  Russian  consul  general  at  Tabriz,  under  whose  protection  the  mis- 
sionaries then  were,  the  English  ambassador  having  left  Persia,  report- 
ed the  affair  to  the  prince  governor,  who  promptly  sent  an  oflicer  to  see 
that  justice  was  done.     Through  Mr.  Merrick  and  his  friend  Malek  Ka- 

50 


394  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

sem  Mirza,  the  story  reached  the  ears  of  the  king,  who  with  his  own 
hand  wrote  orders  to  the  prince  governor,  to  have  the  matter  arranged 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  missionaries,  and  to  punish  the  khan.  The 
prince  governor  ordered  the  hundred  tomans  to  be  restored. 

In  view  of  many  such  acts  of  kindness  and  protection  from  the  Per- 
sian government,  the  missionaries  thought  they  could  no  longer,  with 
propriety,  refuse  to  do  something  for  the  education  of  Muhammedan 
youth.  A  school  for  them  w^as  commenced  December  24,  with  one 
scholar,  which  in  a  few  days  increased  to  six. 

The  Rev.  Willard  Jones  and  his  wife  arrived  at  Ooroomiah  on  the 
17th  of  November. 

MiKio.1 10  the  inde.  At  an  early  period,  the  Nestorian  Patriarch  had  urged 
peude.it  Nestorians.  ^j^^  fiiission  to  cxtcud  its  opcrations  to  the  mountain  tribes, 
and  had  been  encouraged  to  expect  that  it  would  be  done ;  but  it  had 
never  yet  been  practicable.  No  traveller  except  Mr,  Shultz,  a  German, 
had  ever  attempted  to  pass  through  the  intervening  country  of  the 
Koords ;  and  he  was  murdered  on  his  way.  Nor  if  the  danger  had  been 
less,  was  there  any  missionary  at  Ooroomiah  who  could  be  spared  to 
make  the  attempt.  It  was  understood,  however,  that  there  was  a  body 
of  Nestorians  on  the  west  of  the  Koordish  mountains,  near  the  Tigris, 
among  whom  a  mission  might  be  commenced,  from  which  access  to  the 
independent  tribes  might  be  comparatively  safe  and  easy.  It  was 
known  that  the  Nestorian  Patriarch  at  El  Koosh,  west  of  the  mountains, 
had  long  since  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  that  his  people  generally 
had  followed  his  example,  and  that  for  that  reason  the  patriarchate  of 
Mar  Shimon  had  been  established  in  the  mountains ;  but  it  was  also 
understood  that  about  the  year  1831  or  1832,  a  large  part  of  them  had 
revolted  from  Rome,  and  had  revived  the  old  patriarchate  of  Mar  Elias 
at  El  Koosh.  Indeed,  when  Mr.  Perkins  first  arrived  at  Ooroomiah,  Mar 
Elias  of  El  Koosh  was  in  that  vicinity,  and  had  induced  the  Nestorians 
generally  to  acknowledge  him  as  their  Patriarch.  He  professed  to  be 
overjoyed  at  the  arrival  of  the  mission  and  delighted  with  their  books, 
and  promised  to  aid  their  enterprise.  In  1838,  the  Nestorians  of  the 
plain  had  generally  returned  to  their  allegiance  to  Mar  Shimon,  though 
one  bishop  still  adhered  to  Mar  Elias. 

It  had  become  certain  that  Dr.  Grant  must  leave  Ooroomiah,  as  his 
health  could  not  endure  the  chmate.  He  was  therefore  directed  to  at- 
tempt the  establishment  of  a  mission  among  the  Nestorians  on  the  west 
of  the  mountains.  Mr.  Homes,  of  the  mission  at  Constantinople,  was 
directed  to  assist  him  in  exploring  the  country,  and  in  other  preparatory 
labors,  till  an  associate  should  arrive.  Information  was  afterwards  re- 
ceived of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Grant,  which  might  render  it  necessary  to 
delay  the  enterprise.  Other  information  led  to  doubts  concerning  the 
existence  of  the  supposed  Nestorian  community  west  of  the  mountains. 
It  became  evident,  too,  that  the  Turkish  empire  was  about  to  be  involv- 
ed in  a  war,  which  would  render  travelling  on  the  proposed  route  extreme- 
ly dangerous,  if  not  impracticable.     Mr.  Jones,  Dr.  Grant's  intended  as- 


1839.]  MISSION    TO   THE    INDEPENDENT   NESTORIANS.  395 

sociate,  was  therefore  directed  to  proceed  to  Ooroomiah,  and  new  in- 
structions were  sent  to  Dr.  Grant  and  Mr.  Homes,  authorizing  them  to 
defer  the  attempt.     But  they  had  already  gone. 

Dr.  Grant  left  Ooroomiah  on  the  first  of  April,  to  join  his  associate. 
On  his  way  to  Trebizond,  he  suffered  much  and  was  repeatedly  in  dan- 
ger of  perishing  from  the  snow,  which  was  from  two  to  four  feet  deep 
for  more  than  two  hundred  miles.     On  arriving  at  Constantinople,  he 
found  that  JNIr.  Homes  could  not  then  be  spared  from  that  mission.     He 
therefore,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  brethren,  returned  by  Trebizond 
to  Erzeroom,  and  crossing  the  intervening  mountains,  which  was  still 
difficult  on  account  of  the  snow,  arrived  at  Diarbekir  on  the  Tigris  on 
the  30th  of  May.     On  the  same  day.  May  30,  Mr.  Homes  left  Con- 
stantinople to  join  him.     In  fifty-nine  hours  an  Austrian  steamer  carried 
him  seven  hundred  miles  to  Trebizond.     June  9,  he  arrived  at  Erze- 
room.    As  the  shortest  road  to  Diarbekir,  through  a  country  inhabited 
by  independent  Koords,  was  always  unsafe,  and  now  on  account  of  the 
war  more  dangerous  than  ever,  he  resolved  to  follow  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates  to  the  latitude  of  Diarbekir,  and  approach  that  city  from  the 
west.     On  his  way,  he  visited  Erzingan,  Eghin,  Arabkir,  and  other 
populous  towns,  which  are  the  real  home  of  many  of  the  rich  Armenian 
residents  at  Constantinople,  and  must  at  some  future  time  be  an  impor- 
tant field  for  missionary  labor.     At  Arabkir,  he  found  that  the  Arme- 
nian bishop,  by  orders  from  Constantinople,  had  been  collecting  publi- 
cations of  the  mission  press  at  Smyrna,  which  were  circulating  among 
his  people.     He  acknowledged  that  they  contained  nothing  objection- 
able ;  but  he  had  been  ordered  to  collect  and  burn  them,  and  must  obey. 
June  24,  as  has  been  already  stated,  the  great  battle  of  Nezib  was 
fought,  and  the  Turkish  grand  army  dispersed.     Its  miserable  fragments 
retreated  in  confusion  towards  their  homes,  plundering  villages  and  tra- 
vellers and  robbing  each  other  on  their  way.     June  28,  just  at  night, 
Mr.  Homes  met  a  company  of  fifty  armed  Koords  and  several   armed 
women,  who  were  returning  from  that  field  of  slaughter ;  and  having 
been  saved  from  violence  and  cautioned  against  travelling  in  the  night 
by  the  commander,  arrived  at  Argunni,  twelve  hours  from  Diarbekir. 
He  despatched  a  messenger  with  a  letter  to  Dr.  Grant.     Having  been 
detained  several  days  by  want  of  an  escort,  and  robbed,  by  the  conni- 
vance, as  all  supposed,  of  the  governor,  he  arrived  at  Diarbekir  on 
the  third  of  July.     Just  without  the  walls,  he  met  his  messenger,  who 
had  been  robbed  of  every  thing  but  the  letter. 

Joining  a  company  of  forty  horsemen,  Dr.  Grant  and  Mr.  Homes 
arrived  at  Mardin  on.  the  10th  of  July,  after  a  ride  of  eighteen  hours. 
Here  they  were  confined,  by  the  dangers  which  beset  every  road  for 
want  of  an  established  government,  about  two  months.  The  ruin  of  the 
Sultan's  army  was  ascribed  to  the  introduction  of  the  European  dress 
and  tactics;  and  this  inflamed  the  Mussulman  hatred  against  Chris- 
tians. The  native  Christians,  too,  thinking  the  Tuikish  power  effectu- 
ally broken,  grew  insolent  and  overbearing.     The  attempts  of  the  mis- 


396  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

sionaries  to  collect  information  were  taken  as  evidence  that  they  were 
spies.  Within  a  week  of  their  arrival,  they  were  threatened  with  death 
by  the  populace,  and  the  governor  offered  them  a  guard,  which  they 
declined.  The  turbulence  of  the  people  increased,  and  robberies  and 
murders  grew  more  numerous,  till  September  4,  when  Mr.  Homes  went 
out  to  inquire  concerning  caravans,  with  which  they  might  leave  the 
city.  During  his  walk,  he  saw  conclusive  evidence  of  an  approaching 
insurrection,  and  of  a  determination  to  kill  the  strangers.  That  evening, 
the  brethren  heard  that  a  caravan  from  Mosul  had  encamped  at  a  neigh- 
boring village,  on  its  way  to  Aleppo.  The  next  morning,  they  rode  out 
to  find  the  caravan  ;  but  it  had  gone,  and  the  villagers  told  them  they 
could  not  overtake  it.  They  rode  back  to  the  city  ;  but  the  gates  were 
shut,  the  walls  guarded  by  armed  men,  and  violence  and  butchery  raged 
within.  The  Koords  of  the  city  had  risen,  had  attacked  the  palace  and 
massacred  several  of  the  principal  men,  and  among  the  rest,  the  late 
governor.  The  Mussulmans  on  the  walls,  who  gave  them  the  informa- 
tion, told  them  they  must  go  on  their  way  and  disappear,  or  they  would 
meet  with  the  same  fate.  They  rode  to  the  Convent  of  the  Patriarch  of 
the  Jacobite  Syrians,  two  hours  east  of  the  city,  and  were  hospitably 
received  within  its  high  and  massive  walls  and  iron  gates.  Their  ser- 
vant was  then  sent  after  their  money  and  baggage.  Near  the  city  he 
was  recognized,  and  pursued  till  he  disappeared  in  the  crooked  streets. 
When  he  arrived  at  the  house  where  they  had  lodged,  its  inmates  be- 
came frantic  with  alarm  ;  for  armed  men  with  drawn  swords  had  been 
seeking  the  foreigners  all  day,  to  put  them  to  death,  and  his  appearance 
might  attract  them  to  the  house.  Taking  a  part  of  the  money  and 
clothing,  disguising  himself  and  spurring  his  horse,  he  returned  safely  to 
the  convent.  A  hundred  Koords  rushed  out  at  the  eastern  gate,  to  attack 
them  in  the  convent ;  bat  various  objects  diverted  them  from  the  attempt. 
At  three  different  times  that  night,  armed  men  searched  the  house  where 
they  had  lodged,  demanding,  "  Where  are  the  men  who  have  written 
down  our  mosques ;" — and  thrusting  their  swords  into  every  hiding 
place  that  might  conceal  them. 

They  remained  six  days  at  the  convent,  during  which  it  was  neither 
safe  to  leave,  for  fear  of  being  murdered  on  the  way,  nor  to  remain,  for 
fear  .of  exciting  a  war  between  the  Koords  and  the  Syrians.  It  had  be- 
come certain  that  the  proposed  mission  could  not  be  commenced.  Mar 
Elias  of  El  Koosh,  finding  the  Nestorians  not  disposed  to  own  him  as 
their  Patriarch,  had  resumed  his  connection  with  Rome,  and  his  flock 
had  followed  him ;  so  that  there  were  now  no  Nestorians  west  of  the 
mountains,  among  whom  a  mission  could  be  established.  The  intended 
explorations  had  been  made,  so  far  as  the  state  of  the  country  permitted. 
Nothing  remained,  therefore,  but  for  the  brethren  to  return  to  their  re- 
spective stations,  as  best  they  could.  They  determined  to  leave  the 
convent,  by  the  first  practicable  opportunity.  They  returned,  separately 
and  secretly,  to  Mardin.  Mr.  Homes,  disguised  as  a  Koordish  trooper, 
remained  in  the  suburbs,  till  he  found  an  opportunity  to  join  a  company 


1839.] 


MISSION   TO  THE    INDEPENDENT  NESTORIANS. 


397 


of  soldiers  on  the  way  to  Diarbekir.  Thence,  after  a  series  of  interest- 
ing adventures,  some  of  ^Yhich  were  not  unattended  with  danger,  he 
arrived,  by  way  of  Sivas  and  Tocat,  at  Sarasoon,  just  as  the  steamer 
from  Trebizond  touched  at  the  port ;  and  going  on  board,  arrived  at 
Constantinople  on  the  21st  of  October. 


Koordish  Warrior. 


The  Prudential  Committee  were  aware  that  Dr.  Grant  had  long 
been  anxious  to  visit  the  Independent  Nestorians,  and  they  hoped  that 
he  would  find  his  way  into  their  country  before  completing  this  journey ; 
though,  on  account  of  the  dangers  which,  according  to  all  accounts, 
must  be  encountered  on  the  way,  they  had  not  directed  him  to  make 
the  attempt.     He  resolved  not  to  be  deterred  by  the  dangers  of  the  way, 
without  first  taking  a  nearer  view  of  them.     Dressing  in  oriental  robes 
and  turban,  he  returned  to  Mardin,  where  he  remained  two  days;  and 
meanwhile  the  place  was  put  under  the  vigorous  government  of  the 
pasha  of  Mosul.     He  left  Mardin  on  the  15th  of  September;  and  after 
a  journey  of  about  200  miles,  70  of  which  was  through  an  uninhabited 
desert,  and  having   once   been  waylaid    by  Koordish   robbers,   who, 
however,  on  seeing  the  party,  thought  best  to  refrain  from  attacking 
them,  arrived  on  the  20th  at  Mosul.     He  found  that  all  the  Koordish 
tribes  between  Mosul  and  the  Nestorian  frontier  had  been  subjected  to 
Turkish  rule.     So  far,  the  pasha  would  be  responsible  for  his  safety ; 
but  no  farther.     "  Those  mountain  infidels,"  said  the  pasha,  "  acknow- 
ledge neither  pashas  nor  kings ;  but  from  time  immemorial,  every  man 
has  been  his  own  king."    Furnished  with  a  guard  to  protect  him  against 


398  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

the  Koords,  he  left  Mosul  on  the  7th  of  October,  and  crossing  the 
Tigris  passed  over  the  ruins  of  ancient  Nineveh,  and  soon  entered  the 
country  of  the  Yezidees,  the  reputed  worshippers  of  the  devil.  They 
received  him  the  more  readily  as  a  guest,  on  learning  that  he  was  a 
Christian  ;  for  their  religion  seems  to  have  been  derived,  in  part,  from 
Christianity,  perhaps  through  the  Manichaeans.  Some  of  them  have 
since  expressed  a  desire  to  have  missionaries  sent  among  them.  Octo- 
ber 8,  he  passed  the  plain  on  which  the  Persian  army  under  Darius  was 
finally  overthrown  by  Alexander  the  Great.*  At  Akra,  his  Turkish 
guard  delivered  him  over  to  the  Koordish  chief,  and  took  a  receipt  for 
him,  as  if  he  had  been  a  bale  of  goods.  The  chief,  thus  made  responsi- 
ble for  his  safety,  gave  him  a  Koordish  guard,  to  attend  him  to  the 
frontier.  As  he  advanced  among  the  mountains,  he  found  Nestorians 
in  increasing  numbers,  some  of  them  living  interspersed  among  the 
Koords,  and  others  temporarily  there.  The  latter  fiercely  demanded 
"  Who  are  you  ?  Whence  come  you  ?  What  do  you  want  ?"  The 
Koordish  guard  was  filled  with  terror,  and  begged  permission  to  return. 
Dr.  Grant  dismissed  him  at  Duree,  and  took  a  guide  furnished  by  the 
Nestorian  bishop  of  that  place.  On  the  18th,  he  crossed  the  frontier 
range  of  hills,  and  reached  Lezan,  the  first  village  of  the  Tiyary,  the 
most  numerous  and  warlike  of  the  tribes.  He  had  never  seen  but  one 
of  this  tribe,  the  blind  young  man  who,  having  heard  of  the  American 
physician,  had  travelled  on  foot  to  Ooroomiah,  and  returned  seeing.  He 
had  but  just  entered  the  village,  when  this  young  man,  having  heard  of 
his  approach,  met  him  with  a  present  of  honey,  and  introduced  him  to 
his  countrymen.  He  travelled  on  from  village  to  village,  till  on  the  26th 
he  arrived  at  the  Patriarch's  residence.  Everywhere  he  was  well  re- 
ceived and  kindly  aided  in  his  progress,  some  parts  of  which  were  so 
precipitous  that  the  mules  of  the  country  could  not  pass,  and  for  three 
days  he  was  obliged  to  travel  on  foot,  wearing  sandals  of  hair  cord,  made 
for  such  service.  Everywhere  his  medical  services  were  highly  prized. 
The  Patriarch,  when  Dr.  Grant  approached  his  residence,  sent  an  escort 
with  a  horse  to  meet  him,  and  watched  his  approach  from  his  chamber 
window  with  a  spy-glass.  On  his  arrival,  the  Patriarch  received  him 
cordially.  He  said  he  had  been  looking  for  a  visit  from  some  member 
of  the  mission  for  a  long  time,  and  had  begun  to  fear  they  would  never 
arrive.  "  And  now,"  he  added,  "  you  are  doubly  welcome.  My  heart 
is  rejoiced  that  I  see  your  face.  You  will  make  my  house  your  own, 
and  regard  me  as  your  elder  brother.  It  is  a  happy  day  for  us  both. 
May  your  journey  be  blessed," 

Dr.  Grant  remained  with  the  Patriarch  about  five  weeks,  during 
which  time  the  whole  subject  of  missions  among  his  people  was  fully 
discussed ;  and  especially  the  raising  up  of  a  learned  and  pious  Nesto- 
rian clergy,  who  should  not  only  promote  piety  at  home,  but  revive  the 

*  At  the  battle  of  Arbela;  so  called  from  Arbela,  now  Arbil,  to  which  Da- 
rius retreated  across  the  Zab. 


1839.1  MISSION   IN   WEST   AFRICA.  399 

distant  missions  which  were  once  the  glory  of  their  church.  As  it  was 
too  late  in  the  season  to  commence  an  examination  of  the  whole  country, 
the  Patriarch  insisted  that  Dr.  Grant  should  visit  him  again  the  next 
sprino-,  when  he  or  his  brother  would  accompany  him  to  every  consule- 
rable%illa<Te,  and  order  the  establishment  of  schools  in  such  as  he  should 
select.  He  was  the  more  earnest  in  his  request,  because  the  Roman 
Catholics  were  making  zealous  efforts  to  proselyte  his  people,  and  with 
occasional  instances  of  success.  Alluding  to  this,  one  ot  his  brothers 
told  Dr.  Grant,  "  You  have  come  late." 

About  the  last  of  November,  Dr.  Grant  left  the  Patriarch  s  residence 
for  Ooioomiah.  His  road  lay  through  the  country  ot  the  Hakary 
Koords,  and  obliged  him  to  visit  their  celebrated  chief,  Nooroolah  iJey, 
by  whose  orders  the  German  traveller  Shultz  had  been  murdered.  He 
found  the  chief  in  his  castle  at  Bashkalleh,  confined  to  his  bed  by  a  cold 
which  had  brought  on  inflammation  and  fever.  Dr.  Grant  soon  restored 
him  to  health,  and  received  an  urgent  request  to  remain  with  him,  or  it 
he  must  o-o,  to  return  soon  and  take  up  his  residence  in  the  country.  He 
left  Bashkalleh  with  a  small  caravan  for  Salmas,  and  thence,  by  a  safe 
and  well-known  road,  reached  Ooroomiah  on  the  7th  of  December. 

Mr.  Merrick  continued  at  Tabriz,  engaged  in  his  usual  Mu»io„  ;<,  the 
labors,  but  without  any  marked  result. 

The  mission  in  West  Africa  was  strengthened  by  the  c-pe  ''am,... 
arrival,  October  4,  of  Dr.  Alexander  E.  Wilson  and  his  wife,  formerly 
of  the  Zulu  mission.  Two  natives  were  added  to  the  church  on  the 
6th  of  October.  The  seminary  contained  thirty  males  and  twenty 
females,  who  were  taught  in  separate  departments.  There  were  two 
day  schools,  one  at  Rocktown  and  one  at  Sarekeh.  The  latter  was 
taught  by  a  pious  native  and  his  wife,  both  educated  in  the  mission 
seminary. 

The  mission  to  the  maritime  Zulus  was  resumed.  Din-  Z"'"  m'--- 
gaan  having  been  defeated  with  immense  slaughter,  and  an  English 
force  having  arrived  at  Port  Natal,  with  a  request  that  the  parties 
would  make  peace,  conferences  commenced  on  the  22d  of  March,  which 
soon  resulted  in  a  treaty.  The  way  being  thus  opened.  Dr.  Adams  and 
his  wife  and  Mrs.  Lindley  returned.  They  arrived  at  Port  Natal  June 
12.  In  the  autumn,  Mr.  Lindley  removed  his  family  to  Port  Natal. 
During  the  war,  the  buildings  of  the  mission  at  Umlazi  had  been  left 
undisturbed.  Meanwhile,  a  revolution  was  going  on  among  the  Zulus. 
Umpandi,  a  brother  of  Dingaan,  a  man  of  pacific  disposition  and  desi- 
rous of  the  friendship  of  the  whites,  fearing  the  jealous  cruelty  of  his 
brother,  withdrew  with  some  followers  across  the  Tugela,  to  place  him- 
self under  the  protection  of  the  Boers.  One  induna  after  another  joined 
him  with  his  people,  till  he  had  half  the  nation  on  his  side.  He  was 
then  formally  proclaimed  king,  after  which  his  followers  continued  to 
increase.  Dingaan  sent  an  expedition  to  take  away  his  cattle,  but  it 
was  unsuccessful.  Umpandi  applied  to  Dr.  Adams  to  establish  a  mis- 
sion   among  his  people.     At  the  earnest  request  of  the  Boers,  Mr. 


^^^  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

Llndley  commenced  a  school  among  them  about  the  close  of  the 
year. 

E.sern  Africa.  The  dofflinions  of  the  Sultan  of  Muscat  consist  of  near- 

ly all  the  sea  coast  of  Asia  and  Africa,  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the 
latitude  of  Madagascar.  He  has  a  considerable  navy,  is  extensively 
engaged  m  commerce,  and  has  established  something  like  a  regular 
government  m  his  dominions.  His  capital  is  at  Muscat ;  but  he  resides, 
for  a  considerable  part  of  every  year,  at  Zanzibar,  on  the  eastern  coast 
of  Africa.  A  correspondence  with  Richard  P.  Waters,  Esq.,  American 
consul  at  Zanzibar,  encouraged  the  hope  that  Africa  might  be  success- 
fully entered  from  this  quarter.  Messrs.  Burgess,  French  and  Hume 
were  therefore  directed  to  make  further  inquiries,  as  they  would  touch 
at  Zanzibar  on  their  voyage  to  Bombay.  Their  reports,  and  further 
intercourse  with  Mr.  Waters,  led  to  the  conclusion,  that  a  competent 
missionary  ought  to  be  stationed  at  Zanzibar  without  unnecessary 
delay.  -^ 

cherokees.  Qf  thc  missions  to  the  Indians  on  this  continent,  that  to 

the  Cherokees  first  demands  attention.  Both  divisions  of  the  nation, 
the  eastern  and  the  western,  were  now  settled  in  the  same  territory. 
But  how  should  they  be  governed  1  Each  division  had  its  own  consti- 
tution, laws,  and  officers  of  government.  Which  should  rule  ?  Those 
who  had  been  established  in  the  country  for  years,  or  the  far  more  nu- 
merous body,  who  had  just  come  from  the  east  ?  It  was  long  before 
such  questions  were  settled,  and  one  uniform  system  of  government 
organized  for  the  whole.  Meanwhile,  another  cause  threatened  the 
nation  with  wide  spread  and  permanent  disaster.  The  treaty  of  1835 
had  been  made  in  violation  of  a  law,  forbidding  any  chief,  on  penalty 
of  death,  to  treat  for  the  cession  of  lands.  Some  of  the  enemies  of  that 
treaty  determined  to  enforce  that  law,  and  on  the  22d  of  June,  deliber- 
ately put  to  death  Major  Ridge,  his  son  John  Ridge,  and  Elias  Boudi- 
not,  who  had  been  principal  agents  in  the  negotiation.  This  deed  of 
violence  stimulated  party  animosity  to  the  utmost.  The  United  States 
government  felt  bound  to  avenge  the  murder,  and  troops  patroled  the 
country  to  find  the  murderers  ;  but  without  success.  Such  agitations, 
added  to  all  the  hinderances  growing  out  of  a  new  settlement,  rendered 
much  progress  in  the  missionary  work  impossible.  Yet  the  school  at 
Dwight  went  on  prosperously,  till  one  of  its  buildings  was  consumed  by 
fire  in  December ;  the  printing  at  Park  Hill  was  continued,  and  some 
progress  was  made  in  organizing  new  missions,  out  of  the  materials 
that  had  been  removed  from  the  east  of  the  Mississippi. 
'*»='''*=•  In  the  Choctaw  mission  there  were  few  changes.     The 

schools  continued  much  as  last  year.  A  protracted  meeting  was  held  in 
August  at  the  Good  Water  station,  in  the  western  part  of  the  country, 
and  was  the  means  of  some  awakening.  In  that  district  eight  were 
added  to  the  church. 

^""""^  There  was  an  important  change  in  the  prospects  of  the 

Pawnee  mission.     The  Pawnees  had  been  urging  the  United  States 


1839.]  INDIAN   MISSIONS.  401 

government  to  furnish  them  with  the  farmers,  teams  and  agricultural 
implements  promised  in  the  treaty  of  1834.  In  September,  Major 
Hamilton,  the  new  agent,  informed  them  that  their  request  .would  be 
granted,  and  that  an  appropriation  had  been  made  for  that  purpose.  At 
his  request  the  missionaries  assisted  the  chiefs  in  selecting  a  place 
for  a  settlement.  The  place  chosen  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  Loup 
branch  of  the  Platte  river,  about  100  miles  from  Bellevue.  Major 
Hamilton  requested  the  missionaries  to  act  as  teachers  of  the  Pawnees 
under  the  patronage  of  the  United  States,  and  through  them  requested 
the  Prudential  Committee  to  obtain  the  four  farmers  stipulated  for  in  the 
treaty. 

The  mission  to  the  Sioux  continued  its  hard  labor,  with  sioux. 

moderate  success.  In  February,  ten  women  were  added  to  the  church 
at  Lac  qui  Parle,  and  their  eighteen  children  were  baptized.  Two 
others,  a  man  and  a  woman,  were  admitted  near  the  close  of  the  year. 
The  schools  were  more  flourishing  than  at  any  former  time.  As  the 
cold  weather  came  on,  Mr.  Huggins  made  a  loom,  and  a  few  of  the 
women  spun  and  wove  a  few  yards  of  cloth-  None  of  them  had  ever 
seen  a  loom  before,  and  they  were  exceedingly  pleased  to  learn  that  it 
was  possible  for  them  to  make  cloth.  This  achievement  was  the  more 
important,  because  it  was  a  victory  over  their  religion,  which  forbids 
them  to  work  as  civilized  people  do. 

Among  the  Ojibwas,  the  station   at  Fon  du  Lac  was  ojibwa.. 

given  up,  as  the  Indians,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  game  and  the 
transfer  of  trade  to  other  places,  had  deserted  the  place.  At  La  Pointe 
the  school  rather  increased.  At  Pokeguma,  attempts  at  civilized  life 
were  manifestly  advancing. 

This  year  the  dissensions  which,  for  some  years,  had  stockbridge. 

wrought  evil  among  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  were  ended.  In  July, 
they  sold  half  their  land,  including  none  of  their  improvements,  to  the 
United  States  ;  and  with  the  proceeds,  bought  the  interest  of  the  disaf- 
fected party  in  the  remainder.  The  disafiected,  amounting  to  seventy 
or  eighty,  left  in  October  for  a  new  home  among  the  Delavvares,  near 
Fort  Leavenworth.  In  the  operations  of  the  mission,  nothing  occurred 
of  special  interest. 

The  only  event  of  much  importance  among  the  New  New  Ycrit. 

York  Indians  was,  the  admission  of  sixteen  members  to  the  Tuscarora 
church,  on  the  last  Sabbath  in  March. 

The   good   work   went   on    steadily,   though   slowly,  Abema^m.. 

among  the  Abernaquis.  Nine  members  were  added  to  the  church  this 
year,  making  the  whole  number  twenty-six, — all  converts  from  popery. 

The  Oregon  mission  commenced  the  year,  as  it  closed  the  or.gon  Mi.»ion. 
preceding,  in  the  midst  of  high  religious  excitement,  which  continued  tUl 
spring.  The  interest  of  novelty  then  seemed  gradually  to  wear  away,  the 
nature  of  the  service  of  God,  in  which  so  many  hundreds  had  promised  to 
engage,  became  better  understood,  and  there  was  less  inclination  to 
engage  in  it.     At  Clear  Water  station,  among  the  Nez  Perces,  which  had 

51 


402  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

been  the  principal  scene  of  the  excitement,  two  Indians  and  one  white 
man  were  admitted  to  the  church  in  November.  Still,  notwithstanding 
the  diminution  of  excitement,  and  the  influence  of  the  Romish  priests, 
who  professed  to  be  the  only  "  men  of  God"  in  the  country,  and  indus- 
triously denounced  the  missionaries,  the  Indians  continued  to  appear 
friendly  and  attentive  to  religious  instruction,  and  showed  an  increasing 
inclination  to  engage  in  agricultural  pursuits. 

In  March,  Mr.  Eells  and  Mr.  Walker  removed  to  their  new  station 
among  the  Flatheads,  called  Tshimakain.*      In  May,  Mr.  Smith  left 
Clear  Water,  and  commenced  a  new  station  at  Kamiah,  about  sixty 
miles  up  the  river,  among  about  275  Nez  Perces. 
ThePressfrom  Mr.  Hall,  oue  of  thc  printers  at  the  Sandwich  Islands, 

was  compelled  to  take  a  voyage  on  account  of  the  sick- 
ness of  his  wife.  It  was  thought  best  that  he  should  visit  the  Oregon 
mission.  He  took  with  him  a  small  press,  type,  furniture  and  paper, 
all  worth  about  $450,  a  donation  to  the  Oregon  mission  from  the  First 
Church  at  Honolulu.  He  arrived  at  Wallawalla  about  the  first  of  May, 
proceeded  to  Clear  Water,  and  there  executed  the  first  printing  done 
on  the  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  was  a  small  elementary 
school  book  in  the  Nez  Perces  language.  The  publication  of  this  book 
gave  new  life  to  the  schools. 

seif.sapporting  For  several  years,  some  persons  had  contended  that  the 

'"'""'  missions  of  the  Board  and  of  all  kindred  societies  were 

conducted  on  a  wrong  principle  ;  that  missionaries  among  the  heathen  . 
ought  to  support  themselves  by  their  own  labor,  and  to  be  free  from 
the  control  of  any  board  or  committee.  At  length,  several  students  of 
the  Oberlin  Institute  in  Ohio,  felt  themselves  prepared  to  commence  a 
self-supporting  mission  in  Northern  India.  They  therefore  went  forth 
among  the  churches,  soliciting  funds  to  pay  their  passage  to  India  ;  for 
it  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  them,  that  paying  their  passage  by 
their  own  labor  as  sailors  would  be  the  easiest  part  of  their  enterprise, 
and  that  if  unable  to  support  themselves  by  their  own  labor  on  the  way, 
they  would  be  still  more  unable  to  do  it  after  their  arrival.  A  consid- 
erable part  of  the  donations  which  they  received,  was  of  necessity  ex- 
pended for  their  subsistence  while  procuring  more.  Having  learned  by 
further  inquiry,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  execute  their  project  in 
India,  they  turned  their  attention  to  the  region  of  the  Columbia  river, 
and  left  New  York,  hoping  to  overtake  the  last  reinforcement  of  the 
Oregon  mission,  and  pass  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  them.  On  reach- 
ing the  frontier  settlements  in  Missouri,  they  found  themselves  too  late, 
and  concluded  to  remain  in  that  region  through  the  next  winter.  Mean- 
while, some  had  left  the  company,  and  others  had  joined  it.  It  must 
have  been  in  the  summer  of  this  year,  that  two  of  them  arrived ;  Mr. 

*  Marked  on  the  map  as  the  Pondera  station.  An  incidental  remark  in  a 
letter  from  one  of  the  miesionariee  suggests  the  conjecture,  that  the  station 
should  be  placed  farther  south,  towards  the  Spokan  river. 


1839.]  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  403 

Griffin,  who  had  received  a  theological  education,  and  Mr.  Munger,  a 
mechanic.  Mr.  Griffin  was  accompanied  by  his  wife.  Finding  no 
other  means  of  immediate  usefulness  or  support,  they  engaged  as  labor- 
ers, by  the  month,  one  with  Mr.  Spaulding  and  the  other  with  Dr. 
Whitman. 

The  history  of  the  last  year  left  the  Sandwich  Islands  f»nriwich  uundi. 
mission  in  the  midst  of  a  glorious  revival.  That  revival  went  on.  The 
number  added  to  the  churches  in  twelve  months  previous  to  the  gen- 
eral meeting  in  May,  was  10,725.  The  whole  number  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  mission  at  all  the  stations  except  two,  was  16,587. 
In  all  the  churches  there  were  15,915  members  in  regular  standing. 
There  were  1,014  candidates  for  admission.  The  average  attendance 
on  public  worship  at  all  the  stations  except  five,  was  21,450.  The 
number  of  organized  churches  was  eighteen.  The  additions  to  the 
churches,  however,  did  not  correctly  represent  the  number  of  conver- 
sions during  the  same  period ;  for,  on  account  of  the  ignorance  of  the 
people,  and  the  known  instabihty  and  deceptiveness  of  the  native 
character,  candidates  were  almost  uniformly  kept  on  probation  from  six 
months  to  two  years  before  their  admission. 

The  revival  was  not  uniformly  sustained  throughout  the  Islands.  At 
some  stations,  it  was  succeeded  by  that  reaction  which  is  apt  to  follow 
high  and  protracted  excitement ;  and  this  in  some  cases,  was  followed  by 
another  reviving.  At  other  stations,  it  continued  with  httle  abatement  to 
the  end  of  the  year. 

There  were  other  incidents  of  special  interest.  The  donation  of  a 
press  by  Mr.  Bingham's  people  to  the  Oregon  mission  has  already 
been  mentioned.  It  was  the  gift  of  about  fifty  of  the  female  members 
of  the  church.  His  people  also  contributed  about  $300  towards  his 
support.  They  w^ere  building,  at  the  same  time,  a  stone  meeting  house, 
144  feet  by  78,  towards  which  the  king  contributed  $3000,  and  others 
about  $-2500.  In  August,  the  second  church  in  Honolulu  dedicated  their 
new  meeting  house,  125  feet  by  60,  which  cost  about  $2000,  of  which 
only  $100  remained  unpaid. 

On  the  25th  of  March,  a  few  days  less  than  nineteen  Bitie  ir.n.iat.d. 
years  from  the  time  of  his  arrival,  Mr.  Bingham  completed  the  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  the  Hawaiian  language. 

Kinau,  the  regent,  died  on  the  4th  of  April,  leaving  a  high  reputation 
for  Christian  firmness  and  consistency.  Kekauluohi  was  appointed  her 
successor.*  Kaikioewa,  the  aged  and  pious  governor  of  Kauai,  died 
about  a  week  after  the  death  of  Kinau. 

*  The  office  of  female  regent  seems  to  have  commenced  with  Kaahumanu, 
who  was  regent  in  the  full  sense  of  that  term,  for  the  king  was  then  a  minor. 
When  he  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  the  office  was  modified,  so  as  to 
amount  to  little  more  than  a  check  upon  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  kmg.  It 
was  thenceforth  understood,  that  the  king  was  the  actual  ruler,  but  no  docu- 
ment signed  by  him  was  valid,  without  the  signature  of  the  regent.  She  also 
acted  in  hie  name  in  his  absence. 


404  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

Kew  Code  of  r.aws.  Onginallj,  thcre  was  no  law  on  these  Islands,  but  the 
temporary  and  changing  "  thought  of  the  chief."  Every  chief  was 
absolute  master  of  all  his  people,  and  the  king  was  absolute  master  of 
both  people  and  chiefs.  Since  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  several 
laws  had  been  promulgated  by  royal  proclamation,  forbidding  certain 
gross  vices ;  but  the  relations  of  rulers  and  people  remained  unaltered.  As 
knowledge  and  civilization  advanced,  the  impropriety  of  this  state  of 
things  began  to  be  extensively  felt ;  for  an  improvement  in  the  character 
of  a  body  of  serfs  produces  a  change  of  feeling  towards  them  in  the  body 
of  their  masters,  as  inevitably  as  any  other  cause  produces  its  appropriate 
effect.  Men  cannot  feel  towards  the  intelligent  and  virtuous,  as  they  do 
towards  the  ignorant  and  vicious.  The  necessity  of  a  change  in  the 
structure  of  their  government,  therefore,  had  long  been  felt  by  the  chiefs 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  But  they  had  sagacity  enough  to  see  that 
successful  legislation  requires  no  small  amount  of  mind  and  knowledge, 
and  that  they  needed  help.  In  1836,  they  applied  to  the  Board,  to  send 
them  a  teacher  of  the  science  of  government ;  but,  as  teaching  juris- 
prudence was  not  a  legitimate  object  of  the  Board,  none  could  be  sent. 
On  learning  this  decision  in  1838,  they  elected  Mr.  Richards  their  chap- 
lain, teacher  and  interpreter,  engaging  to  provide  for  his  support,  and 
he  was  released  from  the  service  of  the  Board,  to  accept  the  appoint- 
ment. He  probably  commenced  giving  the  desired  instruction.  The 
graduates  and  students  of  the  Seminary  at  Lahainaluna  discussed  the 
subject  with  great  freedom  in  the  "  Kumu  Hawaii,"  or  Hawaiian 
Teacher.  Probably,  too,  some  ideas  were  gained  from  foreign  residents 
and  occasional  visitors  at  the  Islands. 

At  length,  the  king  directed  one  of  the  graduates  of  the  Seminary 
to  draw  up  a  code  of  laws ;  and  when  it  was  prepared,  he  and  several 
of  the  chiefs  spent  several  hours  a  day  for  five  days  in  discussing  it.  It 
was  then  recommitted  to  the  graduate,  with  instructions  to  supply  certain 
deficiencies  and  correct  certain  errors.  When  this  was  done,  a  second 
session  was  held,  longer  than  the  first,  and  then  it  was  again  recommitted, 
with  instructions.  After  the  third  reading,  the  king  asked  the  chiefs  iif 
they  approved  it.  They  answered.  Yes.  The  king  replied,  "  I  also 
approve  ;"  and  then  rose  and  affixed  his  signature. 

The  introduction,  which  is  in  the  nature  of  a  Bill  of  Rights,  reads  thus : 

"God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  to  dwell  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  in  unity  and  blessedness.  God  has  also  bestowed  certain  rights 
alike  on  all  men,  and  all  chiefs,  and  all  people,  of  all  lands. 

"  These  are  some  of  the  rights  which  he  has  given  alike  to  every  man  and 
every  chief,  viz.  life,  limb,  liberty,  the  labor  of  his  hands,  and  the  productions 
of  his  mind. 


"  God  has  also  established  governments  and  rule  for  the  purposes  of  peace ; 
but  in  making  laws  for  a  nation,  it  is  by  no  means  proper  to  enact  laws  for  the 
protection  of  rulers  only,  without  also  providing  protection  for  their  subjects  ; 
neither  is  it  proper  to  enact  laws  to  enrich  the  chiefs  only,  without  regard  to 
the  enriching  of  their  subjects  also;  and  hereafter  there  shall  by  no  means  be 
any  law  enacted  which  is  inconsistent  with  what  is  above  expressed ;  neither 


1839.]  NEW    CODE    OF   LAWS.     PERSECUTION   ABOLISHED.  405 

shall  any  tax  be  assessed,  nor  any  service  or  labor  required  of  any  man,  in 
any  manner  at  variance  with  the  above  sentiments. 

"  These  sentiments  are  hereby  proclaimed  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  all 
alike,  both  the  people  and  the  chiefs  of  all  these  islands,  that  no  chief  may  be 
able  to  oppress  any  subject,  but  that  the  chiefs  and  people  may  enjoy  the  same 
protection  under  the  same  law. 

«'  Protection  is  hereby  secured  to  the  persons  of  all  the  people,  together  with 
their  lands,  their  building  lots,  and  all  their  property  ;  and  nothing  whatever 
shall  be  taken  from  any  individual,  except  by  express  provision  oftiie  laws. 
Whatever  chief  shall  perseveringly  act  in  violation  of  this  constitution,  shall 
no  loncrer  remain  achief  of  the  Sandwich  Islands;  and  the  same  shall  be  true 
of  the  governors,  officers,  and  all  land  agents." 

The  laws  regulate  the  poll  tax,  the  rent  of  land,  the  fisheries,  the 
amount  of  labor  which  the  king  and  chiefs  may  require,  the  descent  of 
property,  and  the  privilege  of  irrigation.  Rent  may  be  paid  in  any 
available  property,  at  a  fixed  price.  Labor  for  the  king  and  chiefs 
may  be  commuted  by  a  payment,  in  no  case  exceeding  nine  dollars  an- 
nually. Parents  having  four  children  living  with  them,  are  freed  from 
all  labor  for  the  chiefs,  and  those  having  five,  from  all  taxation. 
Local  legislation  by  individual  chiefs  is  forbidden.  The  authors  of  va- 
rious improvements  are  to  be  rewarded.  The  new  code  was  to  go  into 
operation  in  six  months  from  the  time  of  its  enactment.  The  officers 
under  it  shall  receive  regular  salaries.  And  finally,  the  chiefs  are  to 
meet  annually  in  April,  to  enact  laws,  and  transact  the  business  of  the 
kingdom. 

These  laws  bear  date,  June  7,  1839.  This  is  perhaps  the  first  in- 
stance on  record,  of  a  king  and  aristocracy  who  were  absolute  heredi- 
tary despots,  meeting  together  of  their  own  accord,  to  set  limits  to  their 
own  power,  for  the  good  of  their  subjects.  And  this  took  place  where, 
within  twenty  years,  king,  chiefs  and  people  had  all  been  idolatrous,  un- 
principled, immoral,  unlettered  savages. 

About  the  same  time,  a  school  was  established  for  the  children  of 
the  chiefs.  As  they  must  always  be  accompanied  by  long  trains  of 
attendants,  usually  idle,  they  could  not  safely  be  admitted  to  the  Sem- 
inary or  other  schools,  even  if  long  estabhshed  usage  would  have  per- 
mitted such  association  with  those  of  inferior  rank.  They  were  there- 
fore growing  up  more  ignorant  than  the  children  of  the  common  people. 
The  chiefs  therefore  requested  that  Mr.  Cooke  might  establish  a  family 
school  at  Honolulu,  all  the  expense  of  which,  except  his  personal  support, 
should  be  defrayed  by  themselves.  They  agreed,  too,  that  the  young 
chiefs,  while  at  school,  should  dispense  with  their  trains  of  attendants. 
Mr.  Cooke  was  accordingly  appointed  by  the  mission  for  this  service. 
The  reader  will  recollect,  that  after  the  abolition  of  Per.ccuiion  Bboiiihed. 
idolatry  in  1819,  the  partisans  of  image-worship  and  "  tabus  on  meat" 
raised  the  standard  of  civil  war ;  that  some  years  after,  members  of  the 
same  party  raised  a  rebellion  in  Kauai ;  and  that  in  1831,  the  adherents 
of  a  similar  religion,  introduced  from  France,  had  engaged  in  seditious 
practices  and  military  preparations  in  Oahu.     This  experience,  and  what 


406  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1839. 

they  learned  from  European  visitors  of  the  history  of  popery,  convinced 
the  government  that  such  a  rehgion  led  naturally  to  sedition  and  blood- 
shed. They  determined,  therefore,  to  prevent  its  propagation  among 
their  people.  The  Romish  priests  were  first  sent  to  California.  Some 
of  their  adherents  were  then  called  up,  and  required  to  renounce  their 
seditious  religion  ;  and  on  their  refusal,  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment 
and  hard  labor.  On  learning  this  fact,  Mr.  Bingham  immediately  re- 
monstrated with  Kaahumanu,  telling  her,  "  You  have  no  law  that  will 
apply."  She  answered,  "  The  law  respecting  idolatry ;  for  their 
worship  is  like  that  which  we  have  forsaken;"  referring  to  the  order 
for  the  suppression  of  idolatry  in  1819.  Mr.  Bingham,  however,  per- 
severed in  his  remonstrances;  and  Mr.  Clark,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  Dr. 
Judd,  Mr.  Bishop,  Mr.  Richards,  and  probably  others,  urged  the  discontin- 
uance of  the  practice.  There  is  no  evidence,  nor  any  reason  to  believe, 
that  any  of  the  missionaries  ever  gave  different  advice.  Foreign  visitors 
sometimes  remonstrated;  but  with  as  little  effect  as  the  missionaries. 
As  late  as  September,  1838,  Kinau,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Capt. 
Elliot,  of  the  British  navy,  asked  him  if  he  would  advise  the  natives  to 
return  to  their  "  ancient  mode  of  worship  and  bloodshed."  At  last  better 
counsels  prevailed ;  and  on  the  17th  of  June,  1839,  the  king  issued 
orders  that  no  more  punishments  should  be  inflicted  on  account  of  reli- 
gion, and  that  if  any  were  in  confinement  or  at  labor  on  that  account,  they 
should  be  set  at  liberty.  On  the  24th,  however,  two  females  were  ar- 
rested and  confined  in  the  fort ;  but  Mr.  Bingham,  being  informed  of  the 
fact,  immediately  made  it  known  to  the  governor,  Kekuanaoa,  who 
ordered  them  to  be  released,  "  for  their  confinement  was  not  by  order  of 
the  chiefs." 

The  French  Outrage.  Onc  dlsgraccful  cvcut  rcmalus  to  be  narrated.  On  the 
9th  of  July,  the  French  frigate  I'Artemise,  Capt.  Laplace,  arrived  at 
Honolulu.  Cap.  Laplace  issued  his  manifesto,  declaring  that  he  had 
come,  by  command  of  the  king  of  the  French,  to  put  an  end  to  the  ill  treat- 
ment which  the  French  had  suffered  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  He 
accused  the  government  of  violating  treaties;  alluding,  probably,  to  the 
case  of  M.  Maigret,  who  was  not  permitted  to  land  there.  He  asserted 
"  that  to  persecute  the  Catholic  religion,  to  tarnish  it  with  the  name  of 
idolatry,  and  to  expel,  under  this  absurd  pretext,  the  French  from  this 
archipelago,  was  to  offer  an  insult  to  France  and  to  its  sovereign." 
"With  singular  ignorance  or  disregard  of  truth,  he  asserted  that  among 
civilized  nations,  "  there  is  not  even  one  which  does  not  permit  in  its 
territory  the  free  toleration  of  all  religions ;  and  yet  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  the  French  are  not  allowed  publicly  the  exercise  of  theirs."  He 
demanded : 

"  1.  That  the  Catholic  worship  be  declared  free  throughout  all  the  dominiona 
subject  to  the  king  of  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  that  the  members  of  this  religious 
faith  shall  enjoy  in  them  all  the  privileges  granted  to  Protestants. 

"  2.  That  a  site  for  a  Catholic  church  be  given  by  the  government  of  Ho- 
nolulu,  a  port  frequented  by  the  French,  and  that  this  church  be  ministered  by 
priests  of  their  nation. 


1839.]  THE  FRENCH  OUTRAGE.  407 

"  3.  That  all  Catholics  imprisonod  on  account  of  their  religion  since  the 
last  persecutions  extended  to  the  French  missionaries,  be  immediately  set  at 
liberty. 

"  4.  That  the  king  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  deposite  in  the  hands  of  the 
captain  of  I'Artemise  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  as  a  guarantee  of  hia 
future  conduct  towards  France,  which  sum  the  government  will  restore  to  him, 
when  it  shall  consider  that  the  accompanying  treaty  will  be  faithfully  complied 
with. 

'■  5.  That  the  treaty,  signed  by  the  king  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  as  well 
as  the  sum  above  mentioned,  be  conveyed  on  board  the  frigate  I'Artemise  by 
one  of  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  country  ;  and  also  that  the  batteries  of  Hono- 
lulu do  salute  the  French  flag  with  twenty-one  guns,  which  will  be  returned  by 
the  frigate." 

In  case  of  refusal,  he  stated,  war  would  immediately  commence.  At 
the  same  time  he  addressed  notes  to  the  English  and  American  consuls, 
announcing  his  intention,  if  his  demands  were  refused,  to  commence 
hostilities  on  the  12th,  at  noon,  and  offering  protection  on  board  the 
frigate  to  such  of  their  countrymen  as  should  desire  it.  In  his  note  to 
the  American  consul,  he  added  : 

"  I  do  not,  however,  include  in  this  class,  the  individuals  who,  although 
born,  it  is  said,  in  the  United  States,  make  a  part  of  the  Protestant  clergy  of 
the  chief  of  this  archipelago,  direct  his  councils,  influence  his  conduct,  and 
are  the  true  authors  of  the  insults  given  by  him  to  France.  For  me,  tliey 
compose  a  part  of  the  native  population,  and  must  undergo  the  unhappy  con- 
sequences of  a  war  which  they  shall  have  brought  on  this  country." 

The  harbor  was  then  declared  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade.  A  ves- 
sel was  sent  to  Lahaina,  with  despatches  for  the  king,  while  Haalilio, 
his  secretary,  was  kept  on  board  the  frigate  as  a  hostage  for  his  arrival. 
At  the  request  of  Kekaiiluohi,  on  account  of  the  king's  absence,  the 
time  for  commencing  hostilities  was  deferred  to  Monday,  the  15th.  On 
Saturday  afternoon,  as  the  king  had  not  arrived,  Kekuanaoa  went  on 
board  the  frigate,  and  delivered  to  Capt.  Laplace  the  treaty,  signed  by 
Kekauluohi  and  himself  in  behalf  of  the  king,  and  the  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  which  some  of  the  foreign  residents  had  lent  the  government  for 
that  purpose,  to  avoid  a  bombardment.  At  the  same  time,  salutes  were 
exchanged  between  the  fort  and  the  frigate.  At  nine  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  the  king  arrived,  and  immediately  landed.  Soon  after,  Capt. 
Laplace  landed,  and  escorted  by  a  company  of  150  men,  with  fixed 
bayonets  and  martial  music,  proceeded  to  a  straw  house  belonging  to 
the  king,  where  Mr.  Walsh  said  mass.  On  the  16th,  at  five  o'clock 
P.  M.,  a  commercial  treaty  was  brought  to  the  king,  and  he  was  told 
that  he  must  sign  it  by  breakfast  time  the  next  morning,  or  such  a  rep- 
resentation would  be  made  to  the  French  government,  that  a  larger 
force  would  be  sent  to  take  possession  of  the  island.  The  king  object- 
ed to  some  of  its  provisions  ;  but  he  was  told  that  no  treaty  would  be 
made  without  them.  He  requested  time  to  advise  with  his  chiefs  ;  but 
Capt.  Laplace  refused  to  grant  it,  and  the  treaty  was  signed.  Its  most 
important  articles  are  the  4lh  and  6th.  The  4th  stipulates  that  no 
Frenchman  shall  be  tried  for  any  crime,  except  by  a  jury  of  foreign 


408  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMEKIGAN    BOARD.  [1839. 

residents,  nominated  by  the  French  consul,  and  approved  by  the  gov- 
ernment. This,  considering  the  circumstances,  puts  it  in  the  power  of 
the  French  consul  to  shield  French  felons  from  punishment,  as  entirely 
as  he  pleases.  The  6th  article  provides  that  French  merchandise,  and 
especially  wine  and  brandy,  shall  not  be  prohibited,  nor  required  to  pay 
a  duty  higher  than  five  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  This  effectually  repealed 
the  law  just  enacted  for  the  promotion  of  temperance,  by  which  distilled 
spirits  were  excluded,  and  a  heavy  duty  imposed  on  the  importation  of 
wine.     On  the  morning  of  the  20th,  the  frigate  left  the  Islands. 

The  greater  part  of  the  pretexts  for  this  aggression,  set  forth  by  Capt. 
Laplace,  are  false.  The  treaty  with  Capt.  Dupetit  Thouars  was  not 
intended  to  include  Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  and  the  exclusion  of 
M.  Maigret  was  no  violation  of  it.  French  residents  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands  were  not  forbidden  the  public  exercise  of  their  religion.  The 
American  missionaries  had  not  advised  the  government  to  adopt  any  of 
the  measures  of  which  he  complained.  As  to  the  rest,  Russia,  where  the 
established  religion  is  that  of  the  Greek  Church,  denounces  Romish 
image-worship  as  idolatry,  and  forbids  French  missionaries  to  make 
proselytes  within  her  borders.  If  Capt.  Laplace  really  had  orders  from 
the  French  government  to  speak  and  act  as  he  did,  why  was  he  not  sent 
to  St.  Petersburgh,  rather  than  to  Honolulu  ?  To  this  question,  no 
answer  honorable  to  France  can  be  given.  The  "  insults"  and  griev- 
ances are  the  same  in  both  cases  ;  but  Nicholas  I.  is  a  more  dangerous  foe 
than  Kamehameha  III. 

The  article  concerning  wine  and  brandy  proved  very  convenient  for 
M.  Dudoit,  who  was  now  French  consul.  By  his  representations  of 
the  case  of  M.  Maigret  and  M.  Bachelot,  he  had  been  a  principal  agent 
in  procuring  this  outrage ;  and  now,  having  obtained  a  treaty  according 
to  his  mind,  he  engaged  largely  in  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks. 

Mr.  Walsh,  the  only  Romish  priest  on  the  Islands,  at  once  exerted 
himself  to  increase  the  number  of  his  followers.  He  denounced  the 
Hawaiian  Bible,  told  the  people  that  their  marriages,  solemnized  by 
Protestants,  were  invalid,  and  that  the  missionaries  themselves  were 
living  in  adultery,  and  on  the  arrival  of  the  bishop  and  priests,  who 
were  expected  soon,  would  be  ashamed  and  quit  the  field.  He  encour- 
aged the  use  of  wine,  brandy  and  tobacco.*  It  was  extensively  under- 
stood by  the  natives,  that  still  grosser  vices  had  his  approbation.  At 
first,  there  was  quite  a  rush  to  his  place  of  worship  ;  but  before  the  end 
of  the  year,  the  attendance  very  sensibly  diminished.  At  first,  six 
members  of  the  Second  Church  at  Honolulu  went  over  to  the  Roman- 
ists. One  of  them  soon  returned.  Another  wished  to  return,  but  she 
had  been  baptized  as  a  Papist,  and  was  told  that  death  would  be  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  going  back  to  the  Protestants.  The  native 
Romanists  were  zealous,  and  held  meetings  and  endeavored  to  make 

*  The  mode  of  using  tobacco  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  such  as  to  pro- 
duce a  real  intoxication,  as  pernicious  as  that  caused  by  ardent  spirits.  Its  use  is 
therefore  considered  a  sufficient  reason  for  excommunication. 


1839.]  POPERY   AND   BRANDY   INTRODUCED   BY   FORCE.  409 

proselytes  in  all  parts  of  Oahii.  They  pretended  to  work  miracles,  by 
praying  and  performing  ceremonies  over  the  sick.  Of  those  who  trusted 
to  them,  some  slowly  recovered,  and  others  died.  These  incantations 
over  the  sick  were  by  no  means  new  at  the  Islands.  Many  remembered 
that  the  priests  of  their  old  religion,  before  1819,  had  practised  similar 
rites.  By  such  means,  a  considerable  Romanist  party  was  raised  in 
Oahu,  including,  among  its  most  zealous  members,  those  who  had 
always  been  foremost  in  every  outbreak  of  the  old  idolatry.  Obsolete 
idolatrous  practices  were  revived  by  such  as  were  fond  of  them  ;  and  on 
the  death  of  Liliha,  and  probably  on  other  occasions,  the  rites  of  the 
old  idolatry  were  mingled  with  those  of  Romanism.  Yet  to  the  end  of 
the  year,  the  influence  of  Romanism  was  almost  wholly  confined  to 
Oahu ;  and  even  there,  but  few  members  of  the  churches  were  drawn 
away,  and  it  made  fewer  proselytes  among  the  people  than  had  been 
expected.  By  the  proceedings  of  Capt.  Laplace,  war,  popery,  brandy 
and  the  robbery  of  $20,000  had  become  closely  associated  with  each 
other  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  natives,  and  they  were  little  disposed 
to  favor  a  religion  which  had  been  forced  upon  them  at  the  cannon's 
mouth,  with  such  accompaniments,  and  the  whole  tendency  of  which 
was  evidently  demoralizing. 

On  the  9th  of  October,  the  United  States  East  India  squadron  arrived 
at  Honolulu,  and  remained  till  November  4.  The  missionaries  present 
applied  to  Commodore  Read  to  investigate  the  charges  brought  against 
them  by  Capt.  Laplace.  He  declined  for  want  of  time,  but  informed 
them  that  he  found  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  charges  were  true. 
Meanwhile,  an  account  of  the  outrage,  containing  a  full  vindication  of 
the  missionaries,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Castle,  was  published  by  order  and 
at  the  expense  of  sixteen  officers  of  the  squadron.  The  declaration  of 
war  against  the  missionaries  by  Capt.  Laplace  has  been  brought  offi- 
cially to  the  notice  of  the  governments  of  the  United  States  and  of 
France,  but  has  not  yet  received  the  public  sanction  of  the  latter. 


52 


410  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1840. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

1840. — Annual  meeting  at  Providence. — Sources  of  income. — Mr.  Brewer's 
case. — Mahratta  mission. — The  "Beni  Israel." — Madura. — Operations  en- 
larged.— Places  of  worship. — Ceylon. — Additional  class  in  the  seminary. — 
Reinforcement. — China, — Dr.  Parker's  return. — Leang  Afa  and  his  son. — 
Siam. — Reinforcement. — Vaccination. — Favor  of  the  government. — Prince 
Chou  Fa's  improvements. — Singapore. — Mission  reduced. — Borneo. — Pre- 
paratory labors. — Greece. — Philorthodox  conspiracy. — Education  Society. — 
Constantinople. — Fall  of  the  persecutors. — Recall  of  the  former  Patriarch. — 
Seminary  commenced. — Smyrna. — Arabic  type. — Mr.  Van  Lennep. — Broo- 
sa. — Turkish  preaching  resumed. — Conversions. — Syria. — Political  relations. 
— Reinforcement. — Exploring  tour. — Rebellion. — Bombardment  of  Beirut. 
— The  country  restored  to  Turkey. — Butrus  el  Bistany. — Cyprus. — Prayer  in 
school. — Nestorians. — Preaching  and  printing.^ — Dr.  Grant's  second  visit  to 
the  mountains. — Messrs.  Ainsworth  and  Rassam. — S.  Africa. — Mr.  Lindley 
settles  among  the  Boers. — Death  of  Dingaan. — West  Africa. — Fishtown 
occupied. — Fetish  men  immersed. — Indian  missions. — Conversions  among 
several  tribes. — Sandwich  Islands. — Revivals  continue. — Reaction. — ^Popery, 
intemperance,  fanaticism. — Malo's  lectures. — U.  S.  Exploring  Expedition. — ■ 
Suppression  of  intemperance. — New  school  law. — Secular  improvements. — 
Population. 

The  thirty-first  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  Providence, 
on  the  9th,  10th  and  1 1th  days  of  September.  The  receipts  for  the  last 
financial  year  had  been  $241,691,04,  being  |2,378,78  less  than 
those  of  the  preceding  year.  The  expenditures  had  been  $246,601,37. 
The  debt  was  $24,083,42.  But  this  result  was  not  obtained  without 
an  effort.  The  year  had  been  a  time  of  great  pecuniary  pressure,  not 
only  among  merchants,  but  in  all  departments  of  business,  both  in  the 
cities  and  in  the  agricultural  regions.  For  the  first  six  months  of  the 
year, — from  August  1839  to  January  1840  inclusive, — the  receipts  were 
but  $97,000.  A  similar  falling  off  for  the  remainder  of  the  year  would 
have  left  a  deficiency  of  nearly  $100,000.  A  circular  setting  forth  the 
exigency  of  the  case,  was  prepared  and  sent  by  mail  to  the  pastors  of 
all  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches  professing  to  co-operate 
with  the  Board.  Many  were  aroused  to  greater  effort,  and  the  deficiency 
was  nearly  made  up  before  the  close  of  the  year. 

This  pressure  impelled  the  Prudential  Committee  to  enter  upon  some 
investigations,  which  led  to  instructive  results.  It  was  found  that  more 
than  one  third  of  the  churches  which  professed  to  act  on  the  heathen 
world  through  the  Board,  had  given  nothing  the  preceding  year,  and 
that  a  yet  larger  proportion  of  the  members  of  churches  from  which 
aid  had  been  received,  had  borne  no  part  in  the  contributions  made. 
Probably,  therefore,  not  more  than  half  of  the  members  of  the  churches 
ostensibly  connected  with  the  Board,  had  contributed  to  its  funds ,  and 


1840.]  MAHRATTA    MISSION.       MADRAS.  411 

there  was  reason  to  hope  that  if  all  could  be  reached  by  suitable  appeals, 
a  lar^e  addition  would  be  made  to  the  annual  income  of  the  Board. 

The  committee  on  the  case  of  the  Rev.  Josiah  Brewer  Mr.  Brewer.  «... 
reported.  Mr.  Brewer  comjilained  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  or 
Secretaries,  past  or  present,  that  they  had  compelled  him  to  withdraw 
from  the  service  of  the  Board  for  groundless  or  insufficient  reasons  j  that 
they  had  given  him  a  certificate  of  dismission  in  an  unsuitable  form, 
adapted  to  injure  him ;  and  that  since  his  dismission  they  had  injured 
him  by  divers  incorrect  statements  concerning  him.  As  his  redress,  he 
demanded  an  immediate  and  unconditional  restoration  to  the  service 
of  the  Board.  The  committee,  after  spending  several  days  in  hearmg 
and  considering  the  case,  decided  unanimously,  that  the  fust  and  thud 
specifications  were  not  sustained,  and  that  the  second  was  not  fully  sus- 
tained, though  Mr.  Brewer's  certificate  of  dismission  was  not  in  all  res- 
pects such  a°s  he  should  have  received.  They  thought,  also,  that  Mr. 
Brewer  had  no  just  ground  to  demand  a  restoration  to  the  service  of  the 
Board.  They  therefore  reported  such  a  form  of  dismission  as  in  their 
opinion  should  have  been  given  him.  The  Board  accepted  and  approv- 
ed the  report  of  the  committee,  and  directed  the  Recording  Secretary  to 
give  him  a  certificate  of  dismission  accordingly. 

In  the  concerns  of  the  Mahratta  mi.ssion,  there  was  no  M''""-"  ^'i^'""- 
considerable  change.  The  members  of  the  late  reinforcement  were 
mostly  employed  in  acquiring  the  language.  The  native  helpers  con- 
tinued faithful  and  useful.  Dajeeba,  at  Ahmednuggur,  removed,  early 
in  the  year,  to  a  house  at  some  distance  from  the  mission  premises,  sur- 
rounded by  dwellings  of  the  natives,  for  the  sake  of  freer  intercourse 
with  them.  The  experiment  was  in  some  degree  successful.  At  Jalna, 
the  English  residents,  having  built  a  new  house  of  worship,  gave  Mr. 
Munger  the  use  of  their  old  one.  At  Bombay,  there  was  an  increasing 
attention  among  the  Jews  to  their  own  Scriptures,  for  which  they  fre- 
quently apphed  to  the  mission.  Sometimes  they  even  purchased  the 
Hebrew  New  Testament.  On  a  visit  to  Alibag,  in  the  southern  Con- 
can,  Mr.  Hume  had  many  applications  for  the  Old  Testament,  or  parts 
of  it,  in  Hebrew,  from  the  "  Beni  Israel,"  that  is,  "  Children  of  Israel," 
who  reject  the  name  of  Jews,  and  are  supposed  to  be  descendants  of  the 
Ten  Tribes.  They  told  him  that  before  missionaries  came  and  distribu- 
ted the  Scriptures  among  them,  they  were  much  like  their  heathen 
neighbors ;  but  that  now  they  had  put  away  all  heathenish  practices. 

°At  Madras,  four  presses,  on  an  average,  were  constantly  m -'ifa'- 

employed  in  printing  Scriptures  and  Tracts  in  the  native  languages. 
The  Tamul  printing  amounted  to  11,660,700  pages,  all  at  the  expense 
of  Bible  and  Tract  Societies  and  individuals.  The  profits  of  the  press 
were  greater  than  the  expense  of  the  mission.  The  congregation  and 
schools  slightly  increased.  One  was  added  to  the  church.  Many  more 
might  have  been  added,  by  following  the  prevailing  practice  of  Protes- 
tant missionaries  from  Europe,  which  is,  to  baptize  all  who  appear  hon- 
estly to  desire  it,  and  who  understand  a  few  of  the  fundamental  truths 


412  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1840. 

of  Christianity,  though  they  exhibit  no  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart. — 
Mr.  Hunt  arrived  with  his  wife,  March  19,  and  took  charge  of  the 
printing. 

Madura.  At  all  thc  statlons  connected  with  the  Madura  mission, 

the  number  of  native  helpers  was  increased  from  29  to  37 ;  of  free 
schools,  from  81  to  99,  and  of  pupils,  from  2833  to  3316.  Twelve  mem- 
bers were  added  to  the  four  native  churches,  which  now  contained  fif- 
teen members,  besides  native  helpers.  The  free  schools  were  sending 
out  about  a  thousand  lads  annually,  whose  minds  and  characters  had 
received  more  or  less  benefit  from  Christianity.  Additional  schools  were 
solicited  in  many  places ;  but  they  could  not  be  established,  for  want  of 
funds.  A  preaching  bungalow,  the  first  erected  at  Madura,  was  dedi- 
cated April  26.  It  was  fifty  feet  by  thirty,  wnth  clay  walls  and  a 
thatch  roof,  and  cost  one  hundred  dollars  ;  all  that  the  state  of  the  funds 
would  allow.  Through  the  liberahty  of  individuals,  a  mission  chapel 
was  erected  at  Dindigul. 

ceyiou.  The  most  important  change  in  the  Ceylon  mission  was 

the  establishment  of  a  senior  class  in  the  seminary.  Its  object  was,  to 
give  to  a  few  a  more  complete  education  than  had  yet  been  attempted. 
A  few  were  found,  willing  to  spend  time  for  a  more  extensive  course 
of  study. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  year,  twelve  were  added  to  the  churches. 
The  additions  during  the  year  appear  to  have  been  about  50,  and  the 
number  of  admissions  from  the  commencement,  more  than  500. 
Mission  to  China.  At  Cauton,  Dr.  Parker  was  able  to  open  his  dispensary 

again  early  in  the  year ;  but  the  events  of  the  war  compelled  him  soon 
to  close  it,  and  left  him  at  leisure  to  visit  the  United  States.  He  arriv- 
ed at  New  York,  December  10.  The  other  members  of  the  mission 
spent  the  time  mostly  at  Macao,  in  literary  labors.  Mr.  Williams 
nearly  completed  the  printing  of  the  Chinese  Chrestomathy,  and  made 
some  progress  in  the  study  of  the  Japanese  language.  One  of  the  Ja- 
panese sailors  under  his  care  gave  evidence  of  conversion  to  God. 

Leang  Afa,  who  was  supported  by  the  London  Missionary  Society 
and  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  returned  from  Singapore  to 
Canton,  believing  that  the  value  of  the  information  which  he  could  fur- 
nish concerning  the  English  and  the  opium  trade,  would  ensure  his 
safety.  He  w'as  suffered  to  live  unmolested  at  Canton,  where  he  labor- 
ed faithfully  as  an  evangelist,  and  baptized  several  on  the  profession  of 
their  faith.  His  intelligent  and  pious  son,  Atih,  was  employed  by  the 
Commissioner  Lin,  as  his  chief  interpreter.  Mr.  Stanton,  an  English 
missionary,  was  seized  by  the  Chinese  soldiers,  and  imprisoned,  but  re- 
leased after  repeated  examinations.  About  the  close  of  the  year.  Dr. 
Lockhart,  an  English  missionary,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  GutzlafF,  were  at 
Chusan,  on  the  east  coast  of  China,  which  was  then  in  possession  of  the 
English ;  but  Chusan  was  soon  given  up  to  the  Chinese,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  retire. 
Miseion  to  siam.  The  missioH  to  Siam  was  strengthened  by  the  arrival 


1840.]  MISSION   TO  SUM.  413 

of  Messrs.  Hemenway  and  Caswell,  with  their  wives  and  Miss  Pierce 
on  the  first  of  January,  of  Mr.  Benhara  and  his  wife  on  the  third  of 
March,  and  of  Messrs.  French  and  Peet  with  their  wives  on  the  2Sth 
of  May.  Mr.  Benhara  was  drowned  in  attemptin|T  to  cross  the  Meinam, 
in  returning  from  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer  on  the  evening  of 
April  6. 

For  about  ten  months,  the  press  was  unemployed  for  want  of  funds ; 
but  it  had  already  struck  off  the  Gospels  of  Mark,  Luke  and  John,  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  and  the  three  Epis- 
tles of  John,  in  Siamese,  besides  a  considerable  number  of  tracts.  IS'ear 
the  close  of  the  year  it  was  again  put  in  motion. 

Dr.  Bradley  at  last  succeeded  in  introducing  vaccination.  The  virus 
received  from  Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith,  of  Boston,  took  effect,  and  the  work 
went  on  successfully  through  February,  March  and  April,  when  the 
rains  set  in,  accompanied  with  thunder,  and  it  suddenly  ceased  to  be  ef- 
ficacious. From  this  experiment,  and  from  the  fact  that  the  small-pox 
itself  nearly  dies  away  during  this  season  of  rain  and  thunder.  Dr.  Brad- 
ley was  led  to  doubt  the  possibility  of  propagating  vaccination  through 
the  year. 

Of  the  religious  influence  which  the  mission  was  exerting,  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  form  an  estimate.     No  Siamese  had  publicly  profess- 
ed himself  a  Christian,  and  but  one  or  two  gave  indications  of  piety; 
but  hundreds  had  gained  some  knowledge  of  Christian  truth  and  morals, 
and  many  wished  to  know  more  on  the  subject,  and  gladly  received 
Christian  books  ;  while  thousands  had  received  temporal  benefit,  espe- 
cially in  respect  to  their  health,  and  were  therefore  friendly  to  the  mis- 
sion.    The  king  and  high  officers  of  state  evidently  regarded  them  as 
honest  and  useful  men,  from  whom  no  danger  was  to  be  apprehended. 
The  king,  as  yet,  demanded  no  rent  for  the  mission  premises,  and  de- 
graded one  of  his  nobles  for  reporting  that  he  was  displeased  with  the 
missionaries.     The  prah  klang  still  allowed  them  the  quiet  use  of  the 
Tract  House.     The  Chou  Fa  Noi,  a  son  of  the  former  king  and  a  pro- 
bable heir  of  the  throne,  continued  his  friendly  intercourse  with  them. 
He  was  already  well  acquainted  with  the  English  language,  had  a  res- 
pectable library  of  English  books,  and  was  introducing  various  improve- 
ments.    In   1839,  he  had  fitted  up  a  shop  for  repairing  clocks  and 
watches,  with  a  sign  in  gilded  Roman  capitals,  and    an  "  American 
Eagle"  over  the  door ;  and  furnished  his  cook  house  with  chimneys,  the 
first  ever  built  in  Siam,  and  w-ith  a  cooking  stove,  and  other  kitchen  fur- 
niture, purchased  of  Dr.  Tracy.     From  a  print  in  an  American  book, 
he  learned  to  defend  young  shade  trees  by  inclosing  them  with  boards, 
and  in  various  other  ways  showed  his  fondness  for  American  improve- 
ments.    This  year,  he  went  on  constructing  rain-gauges,  keeping  mete- 
orological tables,  and  studying  the  science  of  navigation.     Some  time 
during  the  summer  he  came  with  a  special  message  from  the  king,  re- 
questing Dr.  Bradley  to  procure  several  American  ship  builders  and  ship 
masters  for  his  service,  because,  he  said,  the  king  thinks  the  Americans 


414  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1840. 

sober  and  honest  people.  Probably,  as  Dr.  Bradley  suggests,  his  convic- 
tion that  Americans  would  never  wish  to  get  possession  of  the  country, 
was  a  principal  reason  why  the  king  preferred  them  to  the  English. 
The  fact  that,  in  the  east,  there  is  less  of  intemperance  and  its  conse- 
quent evils  among  the  Americans,  is  doubtless  another  reason  for  the 
preferment.  Still,  it  was  evident  that  the  king  and  the  priesthood 
thought  it  utterly  impossible  for  the  missionaries  to  succeed  in  changing 
the  religion  of  the  country ;  and  it  was  wholly  uncertain  what  they 
would  do,  if  they  should  see  indications  of  such  a  result. 
sinsapore.  Thc  Signaporc  mission  was  greatly  reduced.     Mr.  and 

Mrs.  Tracy  were  on  the  Nielgherry  Hills,  seeking  the  recovery  of  their 
health.  Mrs.  Travelli  left  Singapore  for  the  same  reason  in  October, 
and  returned  to  the  United  States.  Mr.  Wood  also  returned.  Mr. 
Dickinson  was  released  from  his  connexion  with  the  Board  in  October, 
to  engage  as  a  teacher  in  the  Singapore  Institution. 

Abi,  a  Chinese  boy,  was  baptized  on  the  5th  of  January.  On  the 
12th,  Mr.  Dickinson,  assisted  by  the  Chinese  teacher,  Le,  commenced 
a  Chinese  Sabbath  service.  There  were  ten  girls  in  the  female  board- 
ing school.  There  were  forty  boys  in  the  seminary  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year,  and  fifty-three  at  its  close. 

Eorneo.  Thc  labors  of  the  mission  in  Borneo  were  almost  wholly 

preparatory.  At  Pontianak,  there  was  a  school  of  twenty  or  thirty 
Chinese  children,  Mrs.  Youngblood  was  teaching  a  few  Malay  girls, 
and  arrangements  were  made  for  a  Dyak  school.  In  the  Sambas  resi- 
dency, Montrado  was  thought  the  best  place  for  a  station ;  but  the 
brethren  had  not  obtained  permission  to  occupy  it,  and  it  was  doubtful 
where  they  would  finally  be  located.  Two  tours  were  made  from  Pon- 
tianak to  the  interior,  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  Dyaks,  who  seemed  to  be  the  aborigines  of  Borneo,  and  among 
whom,  it  was  probable,  the  principal  labors  of  the  mission  would  be 
performed.  Mr.  Thomson  and  Mr.  Pohlman  were  at  Batavia  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  November  17,  the  Rev.  W.  T.  Van  Doren  and  wife 
and  Rev.  I.  P.  Stryker  sailed  from  Boston  for  Batavia,  where  they  were 
to  spend  a  year,  according  to  the  regulations  established  by  the  Dutch 
government,  and  then  join  this  mission.  Mr.  Ennis,  on  his  return,  arri- 
ved at  Boston  in  July,  and  was  dismissed  from  the  service  of  the  Board. 
Greece.  The  influcncc  of  the  mission  in  Greece  was,  as  usual, 

greatly  affected  by  the  changes  of  political  parties.  The  missionaries, 
indeed,  carefully  refrained  from  intermeddling  with  politics ;  but  every 
political  party  was  formed,  in  part,  on  a  religious  basis,  and  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  question,  whether  any  religious  reform  should  be 
permitted.  About  the  commencement  of  this  year,  the  government 
discovered  the  existence  of  a  secret  association,  called  the  "  Philortho- 
dox  Society,"  one  object  of  which  was,  to  preserve  unchanged,  all  the 
formality  and  superstition  which  had  crept  into  the  Greek  Church.  It 
had  both  a  civil  and  a  mihtary  head,  and  was  believed  to  be  hostile  to 
the  existing  government,  and  to  be  on  the  eve  of  effecting  a  great  reli- 


1840.]  CONSTANTINOPLE.  415 

gious  revolution,  by  which  the  possibihty  of  reform  was  to  be  effectu- 
ally excluded.  Several  of  the  leaders  were  arrested,  and  the  Russian 
Secretary  of  Legation  was  recalled,  and  the  Russian  ambassador  first 
deprived  of  his  salary  and  then  recalled,  on  account  of  their  connexion 
with  the  conspiracy.  The  arrested  leaders  were  brought  to  trial ;  but 
the  society  still  had  influence  enough  to  procure  their  acquittal.  Its 
civil  head  was  then  banished  from  the  kingdom,  and  its  military  head 
was  sent  to  Egina,  for  a  military  trial.  The  king  then  changed  most 
of  the  members  of  the  Synod,  and  more  liberal  ideas  appeared  to  gain 
the  ascendant. 

There  was  another  society,  not  secret,  and  of  different  politics.  It 
was  an  "Education  Society,"  formed  by  the  principal  literary  men  in 
Athens  and  elsewhere.  The  U.  S.  Consul,  Mr.  Perdicaris,  was  one  of 
its  principal  ofl^cers.  It  maintained  an  excellent  boarding  and  day 
school  for  girls,  but  was  mainly  engaged  in  providing  a  juvenile  litera- 
ture. Mr.  Benjamin  was  elected  a  corresponding  member.  This  so- 
ciety adopted  several  publications  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  issued 
in  modern  Greek  by  the  mission,  and  placed  its  imprint  on  their  title 
pages. 

The  mission  published  five  books  in  modern  Greek  during  the  year, 
and  at  its  close,  seven  others,  among  which  were  Wilberforce's  Prac- 
tical View,  Alleyne's  Alarm,  and  the  Child's  Book  on  the  Soul,  were 
translated  and  nearly  ready  for  the  press. 

At  Ariopolis,  the  Lancasterian  school  prospered,  and  a  Hellenic  or 
High  School  was  commenced.  The  principal  of  the  High  School  was 
a  young  man  who  had  first  studied  at  Athens,  in  a  school  under  the  care 
of  Mr.  King,  and  afterwards  been  sent  by  the  government  to  the  Uni- 
versity at  Leipsic.  In  giving  religious  instruction,  he  made  such  advan- 
tageous use  of  Barnes'  Notes  on  Matthew,  that  Dr.  Gallati  was  employ- 
ed to  translate  that  work  into  modern  Greek.  The  school  had  about 
thirty  students. 

Throughout  Turkey,  the  missions  were  gradually  re-  consuminnpie. 
lieved  from  the  effects  of  the  last  year's  persecution.  Hohannes,  who 
was  the  last  to  be  recalled,  arrived  at  Constantinople  on  the  24th  of 
May.  The  anathemas  and  other  edicts  of  the  various  persecuting  pow- 
ers were  not  revoked,  and  the  Armenians,  especially,  thought  it  unsafe 
to  be  detected  in  holding  intercourse  with  the  missionaries.  But,  one 
after  another,  the  persecutors  themselves  were  brought  low.  About  the 
commencement  of  the  year  a  change  in  the  mode  of  collecting  the  reve- 
nue of  the  Empire  rendered  the  board  of  Armenian  government  bankers 
useless.  They  were  therefore  directed  to  settle  up  their  accounts  and 
close  their  oflftces.  This  reduced  some  of  them  to  poverty,  and  stripped 
them  all  of  a  great  part  of  their  power.  One  of  them,  in  despondency, 
committed  suicide.  About  the  first  of  March,  the  Greek  Patriarch  was 
deposed,  on  the  complaint  of  the  English  ambassador,  for  some  evil  in- 
fluence which  he  had  been  exerting  in  the  Ionian  Islands.  The  Arme- 
nian Patriarch  found  himself  in  trouble  with  his  own  people.     One  of 


416  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1840. 

his  bishops  and  some  others  went  over  to  the  papists,  and  he  was  una- 
able  to  punish  them.  Some  of  his  constables  were  beaten  and  impri- 
soned by  the  Turks.  He  found  himself  obliged  to  recommend,  as  a 
teacher,  one  whom  he  had  banished  as  a  heretic.  Early  in  November, 
he  had  become  so  decidedly  unpopular,  that  he  was  compelled  to  re- 
sign his  office,  to  avoid  deposition.  Stephen,  his  predecessor,  was  elect- 
ed as  his  successor,  first  by  a  large  majority  of  the  Synod,  and  then  by 
lot.  He  arrived  from  Nicomedia  on  the  13th,  and  was  formally  invest- 
ed with  the  office  and  recognized  by  the  Turkish  government  the  same 
night.  This  was  generally  regarded  as  a  triumph  of  the  "  Evangeli- 
cal" party.  Some  called  him  the  Evangelical  Patriarch,  and  others, 
the  American  Patriarch.  This  impression  was  so  strong  as  to  give  rise 
to  the  report,  which  had  no  foundation  in  fact,  that  he  had  been  re- 
called through  the  influence  of  the  American  ambassador.  The  mis- 
sionaries regarded  him  as  a  well  disposed  and  candid  man,  considerably 
enlightened,  and  "  perhaps,  truly  pious." 

Meanwhile,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  the  "  Evangelical" 
Armenians  had  been  slowly  recovering  their  courage,  and  resuming 
their  intercourse  with  the  mission.  Some  of  them  wished  to  place 
their  sons  in  one  of  the  mission  families  for  education.  It  was  therefore 
resolved,  in  July,  that  Mr.  Hamlin  should  open  a  small  boarding  school 
for  them  out  of  the  city.  After  one  or  two  changes,  it  was  finally 
opened  November  24,  at  Bebek,  a  village  about  seven  miles  above 
Constantinople,  on  the  European  side  of  the  Bosphorus.  It  commenced 
with  two  scholars  from  Nicomedia  and  one  from  Constantinople.  De- 
cember 3,  fifteen  applications  for  admission  had  been  received ;  but  the 
funds  were  sufficient  for  only  twelve. 

During  nearly  the  whole  year,  Mr.  Dwight  had  an  Armenian  ex- 
ercise on  the  Sabbath,  at  which  twenty-five  different  persons  attended, 
but  never  all  at  once.  Near  the  close  of  the  year,  one  of  the  pious 
priests  from  Nicomedia  regularly  engaged  as  a  city  missionary,  preach- 
ing the  gospel  to  his  countrymen  from  house  to  house.  A  young  En- 
ghsh  gentleman,  recently  converted  at  Constantinople,  paid  nine  dol- 
lars a  month  towards  his  support,  and  fifty  dollars  a  year  for  the  support 
of  a  pupil  in  Mr.  Hamlin's  school.  During  the  year,  books  were  sold 
to  the  amount  of  $300.  About  the  first  of  December,  the  depository 
was  removed  into  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  sales  rapidly  increased. 
Near  the  same  time,  Mr.  Dwight  took  rooms  in  the  city,  where  he  held 
three  meetings  a  w^eek  with  Armenian  inquirers.  In  June,  Messrs. 
Dwight  and  Hamlin  visited  the  Evangelical  brethren  at  Nicomedia. 
They  found  them  men  of  an  excellent  spirit,  and  spent  several  days  in 
giving  them  instruction.  They  found  that  the  persecution  had  excited 
very  extensively  in  the  villages  in  that  region,  a  desire  to  know  what 
"  Protestantism"  is.  In  September,  Hohannes  made  them  a  visit.  The 
year  closed  with  most  cheering  prospects. 

Mr.  Schauffler  was  still  at  Vienna,  and  Mr.  Homes  visited  the 
United  States. 


1840.]  SMYRNA.       BROOSA.       SYRIA    AND  PALESTINE.  417 

At  Smyrna,  preaching  in  the  language  of  the  countiy  f^-'v^"^ 

was  omitted,  on  account  of  the  persecution,  till  October,  when  it  was 
resumed  with  a  small  congregation.  The  various  branches  of  book 
making  went  on  with  increased  energy.  The  printing  amounted  to 
7,988,000  pages ;  nearly  three  times  the  amount  of  any  former  year. 
Of  the  Monthly  Magazine  in  Greek,  2000  copies  were  published,  and 
of  that  in  Armenian,  1500.  The  Armeno-Turkish  Pentateuch  found 
a  ready  sale.  The  new  font  of  Arabic  type  was  completed.  Tauch- 
nitz,  of  Leipsic,  who  had  already  the  best  Arabic  type  in  Europe, 
ordered  a  set  of  matrices  from  Mr.  Hallock,  for  his  own  use. 

It  was  ascertained  that  a  considerable  number  of  Jews  had  privately 
professed  their  belief  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ. 

The  Rev.  Henry  J.  Van  Lennep,  a  son  of  an  early  friend  of  Fisk 
and  Parsons,  having  been  educated  and  married  in  America,  joined  this 
mission  April  13.  Being  a  native  of  Smyrna,  and  already  famiUar  with 
several  of  the  languages  of  the  coimtry,  he  soon  commenced  a  board- 
ing seminary  at  Sedicui,  near  Smyrna,  for  the  education  of  native  helpers. 
His  prospects  were  highly  encouraging ;  but  the  death  of  Mrs.  Van 
Lennep,  on  the  12th  of  September,  compelled  him  to  discontinue  the 
school. 

The  history  of  the  year  at  Broosa  was  much  the  same  ^roosa. 

as  at  Constantinople.  The  effects  of  the  persecution  gradually  disap- 
peared. As  early  as  August,  the  demand  for  books  began  to  revive. 
Soon  after,  a  few  instances  of  serious  inquiry  after  the  way  of  life  indi- 
cated the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  October  18,  preaching  in  Turk- 
ish was  resumed.  The  hearers  were  few  at  first,  but  slowly  increased. 
Before  the  end  of  the  year,  there  were  two  or  three  instances  of  appa- 
rent conversion. — Early  in  the  autumn,  the  declining  health  of  Mrs. 
Powers  compelled  her  husband  to  remove  her  to  Constantinople. 

At  Trebizond,  the  alarm  caused  by  the  persecution  was  rreuizmd. 

passing  away.  The  bishop,  who  had  been  sent  there  by  the  persecut- 
ing Patriarch,  was  a  decided  opponent  of  the  mission  ;  but  three  of  the 
four  priests  were  so  "  evangelical,"  as  to  reject  all  dogmas  which  they 
could  not  find  in  the  Bible,  and  the  fourth" was  a  man  of  no  influence. 
Mr.  Johnson  had  a  congregation  on  the  Sabbath,  varying  from  five  to 
fifteen,  and  one  man  appeared  to  have  become  truly  pious. 

In  the  new  station  at  Erzeroom,  but  little  could  be  done.  te^oom. 

The  Patriarch's  edicts  against  intercourse  with  the  mission  were  scarce 
needed,  for  all  the  superstitions  of  the  Armenian  church  were  vigor- 
ously alive.  Yet,  during  the  last  three  months  of  the  year,  some 
encouraging  symptoms  appeared,  and  Mr.  Jackson  was  able  to  distribute 
about  a  hundred  volumes  from  the  press  at  Smyrna. 

This  year,  the  history  of  the  mission  in  Syria  became  synaand 

visibly  entangled  with  European  politics ;  so  that  hence- 
forth a  full   explanation  of  all  the  changes  that  affected  its  prosperity, 
would  require  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  intrigues  and  secret  motives 
of  the  principal  courts  in  Europe,  and  their  agents  in  the  East.     At 

53 


418  HISTORY    OF   THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1840. 

some  future  day,  the  facts  that  are  now  known  and  others  that  time 
shall  have  revealed,  may  be  woven  into  a  satisfactory  narrative.  At 
present,  some  general  statements,  sufficient  to  show  the  most  important 
bearings  of  events,  must  suffice. 

For  a  long  time,  France  has  been  considered  as  the  protector  of 
Roman  Catholic  interests  in  the  East ;  and  for  that  reason,  the  Maron- 
ites,  the  Greek  Catholics,  and  the  papal  Syrians  and  Armenians  have 
all  been  more  or  less  under  French  influence.  Russia  is  the  protector  of 
the  Greek  church  ;  acknowledged  as  such  in  some  provinces  by  the 
Porte,  and  felt  to  be  such  everywhere.  The  Turkish  Empire  appeared, 
especially  since  the  battle  of  Nezib,  in  1839,  to  be  falhng  into  pieces ; 
and  the  great  powers  of  Europe  were  watching  each  other,  lest  some 
one  of  them  should  become  dangerously  strong,  by  seizing  too  large  a 
proportion  of  its  fragments.  France  was  in  close  alliance  with  Mche- 
met  Aly,  the  viceroy  of  Egypt,  under  whom  the  Christians  within  his 
dominions,  mostly  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  churches,  enjoyed  greater 
privileges  than  formerly.  Great  Britain,  Russia,  Prussia  and  Austria 
thought  Mehemet  Aly  and  the  French  interest  too  strong  for  the  gen- 
eral safety,  and  agreed  by  treaty  to  restore  some  part  of  his  possessions 
to  the  Porte.  The  Turkish  fleet  was  also  to  be  restored.  France  was 
urged  to  become  a  party  to  this  treaty,  but  refused,  as  it  was  too  adverse 
to  the  interests  of  her  ally.  It  seems  to  have  been  believed  for  a  while, 
both  by  the  French  and  the  Egyptian  governments,  that  the  treaty 
would  not  be  carried  into  execution  without  the  assent  of  France,  for 
fear  of  producing  a  general  war  in  Europe.  The  four  powers,  however, 
determined  to  proceed,  and  at  all  events  to  put  the  northern  part  of 
Syria,  including  Beirut,  into  the  possession  of  the  Porte.  Thus,  if  Me- 
hemet Aly  should  refuse  to  yield,  the  seat  of  the  mission  would  be  made 
the  seat  of  war. 

The  mission  could  exert  no  influence  over  the  action  of  such  mighty 
elements.  It  could  only  pursue  its  labors  as  it  had  opportunity,  and 
await  the  course  of  events.  Mrs.  Hebard  died  as  became  her  profession 
on  the  Sth  of  February.  Mr.  Hebard  soon  after  sailed  for  Smyrna,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health.  Mr.  Whiting,  on  his  return,  and  Messrs. 
Beadle,  Wolcott,  Keyes  and  L.  Thompson,  with  their  wives,  and  Dr. 
Van  Dyck,  as  a  reinforcement,  arrived  on  the  second  of  April.  May  7, 
Mr.  W.  M.  Thomson,  Mr.  Beadle  and  Dr.  Van  Dyck  left  Beirut,  on  an 
exploring  tour  in  northern  Syria.  They  explored  the  country  of  the 
Nusairiyeh,*  passed  on  to  Antakia,  the  ancient  Antioch,  crossed  over 
to  Aleppo,  and  then  repassed  the  mountains  by  a  more  southern  route 
to  Tripoli ;  having  selected,  as  the  most  favorable  sites  for  new  stations, 
Aleppo,  and  Ladikiyeh,  the  ancient  Laodicea  ad  Mare  among  the  Nu- 
sairiyeh. At  Tripoli,  they  found  it  no  longer  safe  to  travel  by  land. 
The  Egyptian  government  had  attempted  some  new  exaction,  in  pre- 

*  Commonly  called  Ansaireea,  or  Ansairiyeh,  which  is  a  rapid  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  name  with  the  article,  cu-Nusairiyeh. 


1840.]  SYRIA    AN'D   PALESTINE.  419 

paration  for  war,  and  the  people  of  Lebanon  had  rebelled.  They 
therefore  took  a  boat  and  arrived  at  Beiriit  on  the  5tli  of  June. 

This  rebellion  against  Mehemet  Aly  happened  just  when  the  con- 
venience of  the  four  powers  required  it ;  for  their  fleet  was  approach- 
ing, to  take  the  country  out  of  his  hands.  It  was  attended  with  a  great 
and  sudden  increase  of  friendship  for  the  English.  It  was  said  that  ten 
thousand  of  the  Maronites  were  ready  to  become  "  English"  in  their 
religion.  Ibrahim  Pasha  exerted  himself  to  quell  the  insurrection 
before  the  arrival  of  the  forces  of  the  allies,  and  troops  rapidly  concen- 
trated around  Beiriit.  Missionary  operations  were  suspended.  Mr. 
Lanneau,  whose  disease  of  the  eyes  returned  with  increased  symptoms 
of  danger,  left  on  the  11th  of  June,  for  Paris  and  the  United  States. 
Messrs.  Beadle,  Keyes,  and  L.  Thompson,  with  their  wives  and  Miss 
Tilden,  left  July  1,  for  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem.  Dr.  Van  Dyck  followed  them. 
At  Jerusalem,  the  brethren  spent  the  summer  and  autumn  undisturbed. 
They  had  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  attended  by  about  a  dozen  friendly 
natives.  They  had  one  school  in  the  city  and  another  at  Bethlehem, 
under  native  teachers.  They  found  in  various  parts  of  Palestine,  an 
increasing  desire  for  instruction  and  confidenca  in  the  Bible. 

Only  Mr.  W.  M.  Thomson  and  Mr.  Wolcott  remained  at  Beirut. 
While  the  storm  of  war  raged  around  them,  and  their  neighbors  rushed 
into  the  city  for  protection,  they  remained  unharmed  in  the  mission 
houses,  and  furnished  an  asylum  to  the  native  assistants  and  many  other 
friends  of  the  mission.  About  the  end  of  the  month,  the  rebellion  was 
so  far  quelled  in  that  vicinity,  that  the  brethren  retired  for  pure  air  to 
summer  quarters  on  the  neighboring  mountains,  taking  some  of  their 
pupils  with  them.  August  14,  a  part  of  the  fleet  of  the  allies  arrived 
off  Beirut.  Sir  Charles  Napier,  its  commander,  immediately  demanded 
the  peaceable  surrender  of  the  country  to  the  Porte,  and  that  arms  be 
restored  to  the  inhabitants  of  Mount  Lebanon,  some  of  whom  were  still 
in  rebellion  against  Mehemet  Aly,  and  all  of  whom  he  exhorted  to  rise 
in  favor  of  the  Sultan.  Hostilities  were  deferred  for  a  while,  to  give 
time  for  consideration,  and  for  correspondence  with  Egypt.  Capt.  Lat- 
imer, of  the  U.  S.  corvette  Cyane,  hearing  at  Smyrna  of  the  danger  to 
which  the  missionaries  were  exposed,  sailed  at  once  to  Beiriit  for  their 
protection.  He  called,  with  the  consul,  on  the  Egyptian  commander, 
who  promised  to  protect  them  in  their  houses  at  Beirut,  though  he  might 
not  be  able  to  do  it  on  the  mountains.  They  therefore  returned,  Au- 
gust 29,  to  their  homes.  Here  they  intended  to  remain  ;  but  authentic 
information,  confidently  communicated,  of  the  plans  of  the  besiegers, 
showed  them  that  it  would  be  unsafe.  They  therefore  sent  their  few 
remaining  pupils  to  their  friends,  stationed  guards  in  their  houses, 
hoisted  the  American  flag  over  them,  and  on  the  8th  of  September, 
took  refuge  on  board  the  Cyane,  as  Capt.  Latimer  had  urged  them  to 
do.  The  next  day,  the  allied  fleet  took  its  stations  for  the  attack.  The 
bombardment  was  commenced  on  the  10th,  and  continued  a  part  of  the 
11th,  when  it  was  suspended  for  negotiations,  which  proved  fruitless. 


420  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1840. 

Mr.  Thomson  had  an  interview  with  the  admiral,  who  promised  to 
spare  the  mission  property  as  far  as  practicable,  and  gave  the  brethren 
a  pass  to  visit  the  coast.  The  next  day,  the  bombardment  was  renewed ; 
and  Mr.  Thomson,  meanwhile,  visited  several  villages,  where  he  found 
the  English  intrenching  themselves,  and  busy  in  distributing  arms  to  the 
mountaineers,  but  he  found  no  place  where  it  would  be  safe  to  remain. 
He  returned  on  board  the  Cyane,  and  the  next  morning  Capt.  Latimer, 
with  them  and  the  American  and  British  consuls  and  their  families  on 
board,  sailed  for  Cyprus.  On  the  18th  he  arrived  at  Larnica,  and  on 
the  20th  sailed  for  Jaffa,  to  protect,  if  necessary,  the  missionaries  there 
and  at  Jerusalem. 

At  Cyprus  the  brethren  heard  of  the  taking  of  Sidon,  Tyre,  and 
other  places  along  the  coast,  of  the  complete  arming  of  the  mountain- 
eers, and  of  the  continued  bombardment  of  Beirut.  The  house  of  the 
Ameiican  consul,  on  the  wharf,  had  been  battered  by  shots  from  the 
fleet,  and  plundered  by  the  pasha's  soldiers.  It  was  resolved  that  Mr. 
Wolcott  should  return,  and  save  something  if  possible.  Going  on  board 
a  British  steamer,  he  entered  the  harbor  on  the  morning  of  October  10. 
The  pasha  had  evacuated  the  town  during  the  night,  and  the  British 
forces  were  just  landing  to  take  possession.  Mr.  Wolcott  landed  with 
the  troops.  The  American  consul  had  just  landed,  and  was  surveying 
the  ruins  of  his  house.  The  magazine  beneath  it,  containing  most  of 
the  property  of  Mr.  Beadle  and  Mr.  Keyes,  had  not  been  opened.  He 
then  made  his  way  through  the  ruins  of  the  city  to  the  suburb  where 
the  mission  premises  are  situated.  The  American  flag  was  still  float- 
ing over  his  house,  and  the  guard  was  on  the  ground.  Soldiers  had 
encamped  in  the  garden,  but  had  abstained  from  pillage.  Several 
balls,  some  of  them  of  68  pounds  weight,  had  penetrated  the  walls  of 
his  house,  but  the  breaches  were  such  as  could  be  repaired.  Some 
bombs  had  burst  in  the  yard.  Yet  the  furniture,  the  library,  and  the 
philosophical  apparatus  were  uninjured.  Mr.  Thomson's  house  con- 
tained in  its  basement  the  native  chapel,  filled  with  goods  which  the 
natives  had  brought  thither  for  safety.  All  there  was  safe.  The  field 
around  Mr.  Smith's  house  had  been  ploughed  by  cannon  balls,  and  it 
"was  supposed  that  the  new  font  of  Arabic  type,  the  finest  in  the  world, 
had  of  course  been  made  into  bullets  ;  but  not  a  type  had  been  touched, 
and  even  the  orange  and  lemon  trees  within  his  inclosure  were  still 
bending  with  their  load  of  fruit. 

In  a  few  days,  the  Emir  Beshir  surrendered  himself  to  the  British, 
and  was  sent  to  Malta  ;  the  subordinate  chiefs  joined  the  invaders  with 
their  forces,  and  the  inhabitants  returned  to  their  dwellings.  Another 
Emir  Beshir,  a  relative  of  the  former,  was  appointed  prince  of  the 
moimtains. 

Mrs.  Wolcott  arrived  from  Cyprus,  October  23,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomson  early  in  November.  The  labors  of  the  mission  were  gradually 
resumed.  The  seminary  could  not  be  opened  till  late  in  November ; 
and  then  the  third  class  was  broken  up,  by  the  offier  of  high  wages  as 


1840,]  CYPRUS.      THE  NESTORIANS.  421 

interpreters  to  British  officers.  TannCis,  the  Arabic  teacher,  was  sick  ; 
but  his  place  was  supplied  by  Butrus  el  Bistany,  who  had  been  a  teach- 
er in  the  Maronite  College  at  Ain  Warka.  Butrus  appeared  not  only 
able  and  learned,  but  evangelical  in  sentiment.  He  had  written  a  trea- 
tise against  the  corruptions  of  popery  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope. 
Another  student  from  Ain  Warka  joined  the  mission.  The  Patriarch 
was  enraged,  and  endeavored  to  get  both  these  deserters  into  his  power, 
but  without  success. 

In  Cyprus,  the  movement  of  the  Greeks,  the  last  year,  Cyprus. 

to  raise  53,000  piasters  for  the  support  often  schools,  ended  in  nothing; 
but  six  schools  which  the  mission  had  brought  into  being,  were  contin- 
ued. In  the  girls'  school,  a  remark  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
found  on  the  cover  of  one  of  the  school  books,  brought  up  the  question, 
"  What  shall  we  do  to  save  the  soul  ?"  Each  girl  brought  her  answer 
in  turn,  on  successive  days,  and  the  various  means  proposed  by  them 
were  discussed.  She  whose  turn  came  last,  proposed  prayer,  as  a 
means  of  saving  the  soul.  None  of  the  others  had  thought  of  it ;  but 
when  it  was  mentioned,  they  all  agreed  that  it  was  peculiarly  suitable,  and 
on  the  28th  of  January,  with  the  unanimous  approbation  of  her  pupils, 
the  teacher  commenced  praying  daily  with  her  school.  Several  useful 
tours  were  made  by  the  missionaries,  and  every  reader  on  the  island, 
so  far  as  they  could  learn,  was  supplied  with  some  religious  tract. 
Near  the  close  of  the  year,  a  new  Turkish  governor  arrived,  and  nu- 
merous changes  of  subordinate  officers  soon  followed.  The  Greek 
archbishop,  and  all  who  had  been  active  partisans  of  the  Greek  Patri- 
arch at  Constantinople,  were  among  those  who  lost  their  offices.  The 
disposition  of  their  successors  was  not  known. 

The  mission  to  the  Nestorians  found  abundant  reason  Nestorians. 

to  be  thankful  for  the  course  of  action  to  which  divine  Providence  had 
led  them.  Almost  all  foreign  missionaries  find  their  greatest  obstacle 
in  the  religious  guides  of  the  people  to  whom  they  are  sent,  whether 
heathen  or  nominally  Christian.  The  priests  are  afraid  of  losing  their 
power  and  their  perquisites,  and  therefore  set  themselves  against  the  mis- 
sionary. The  consequence  is,  that  the  mission  is  broken  up  or  rendered 
inefficient  by  opposition,  or,  as  most  commonly  happens,  a  new  sect  is 
formed,  of  men  who  discard  their  former  guides  and  attach  themselves 
to  the  missionaries.  Among  the  Nestorians,  this  evil  was  avoided.  The 
clergy,  at  the  very  beginning,  seized  upon  the  missionaries,  and  used 
them  as  means  of  their  own  improvement.  They  were  the  foremost 
students  in  the  seminary,  and  the  teachers  of  all  the  free  schools.  In 
an  important  sense,  they  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  reformation 
which  the  mission  came  to  effect.  The  bishops  and  priests  who  spent  the 
week  in  studying  and  translating  the  Bible,  on  the  Sabbath  intermin- 
gled their  services  with  explanations  of  passages  of  Scripture,  and  re- 
marks upon  them  ;  thus  keeping  the  instruction  of  the  people  in  their 
own  hands.     The  missionaries  preached  on  the  Sabbath,  in  the  Ian- 


422  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1840. 

guage  of  the  people,  to  their  boarding  scholars  and  others,  who  might 
be  considered  as  members  of  their  own  family. 

As  some  of  the  people  of  Ooroomiah  were  anxious  to  hear  preach- 
ing in  their  own  language,  and  therefore  wished  to  attend,  but  could  not 
find  seats  at  the  mission  house,  Mr.  Holladay,  was  appointed  to  find  a 
place  in  some  private  house,  where  they  might  preach  without  appear- 
ing as  rivals  of  the  Nestorian  clergy.  Mr.  Holladay  applied  to  deacon 
Badel  to  find  such  a  place ;  but  Badel  insisted  that  they  must  preach 
in  the  church.  He  refused  to  hear  any  objections,  and  insisted  that 
bishops,  priests,  deacons  and  people  would  all  be  pleased.  Finding  the 
deacon  unmanageable,  Mr.  Holladay  called  priests  Abraham  and  Dunka 
to  his  aid;  but  they  joined  decidedly  with  the  deacon.  Succeeding 
so  ill  with  the  lower  clergy,  he  next  went  to  the  three  bishops,  Yohanna, 
Elias,  and  Yoosuf,  He  expressed  his  fear,  that  some  would  think  they 
wished  to  supplant  the  priesthood,  and  make  converts  to  their  own  sect 
as  the  papists  do.  "  What !"  exclaimed  Mar  Yohanna,  "  do  you  think 
we  do  not  know  lambs  from  wolves?"  The  bishops  were  positive  in 
their  opinion.  The  preaching  must  be  in  the  church.  Nobody  would 
be  oflfended,  and  no  harm  would  come  of  it.  Accordingly,  March  22, 
he  preached  in  the  church.  Two  priests  of  the  city  and  deacon  Badel 
took  part  in  the  services,  and  spoke  a  few  words  in  confirmation  of 
what  had  been  said  ;  and  Mar  Yoosuf  solemnly  admonished  them,  that 
now  they  knew  their  duty,  and  God  would  call  them  to  account  for 
their  performance  of  it. 

Preaching  to  the  Nestorians  had  now  fairly  begun.  Some  of  the 
missionaries  had  before  spoken  in  a  Nestorian  church  in  some  village, 
at  the  instance  of  the  officiating  bishop  or  priest ;  but  from  about  this 
time,  the  calls  became  frequent.  By  the  end  of  the  year,  they  had 
stated  preaching  on  the  Sabbath  at  seven  towns  and  villages.  The 
missionaries  preached  in  them  all  to  the  extent  of  their  ability ;  and 
three  bishops  and  four  priests,  several  of  whom  appeared  to  be  truly 
pious  men,  aided  them  when  present,  and  to  some  extent  supplied  their 
place  when  absent.  Sevral  of  the  bishops  and  priests  had  become 
eloquent  and  powerful  preachers.  Priest  Dunka  spent  this  summer 
also  among  the  mountains,  preaching,  as  before,  to  attentive  hearers. 

Dr.  Austin  H.  Wrio-ht  sailed  from  Boston  in  March,  to  take  the 
place  of  Dr.  Grant,  and  arrived  at  Ooroomiah,  July  25. 

The  press  sent  out  for  the  use  of  this  mission  had  been  left  at  Tre- 
bizond ;  for  it  was  too  heavy  to  transport  over  the  mountains  on  the 
back  of  a  horse,  and  there  was  no  other  conveyance.  It  was  therefore 
sold  at  Constantinople,  and  another  was  made,  in  pieces  not  too  large 
for  a  horse  to  carry.  With  this  press  and  a  supply  of  Arabic  type,  Mr. 
Edward  Breath  sailed  from  Boston,  July  21,  and  arrived  at  Ooroomiah 
November  7.*     The  press  was  set  up,  and  on  the  30th  of  November 


*  Miss.  Herald,  vol.  37,  p.  381.     Other  documents  say,  Nov.  17. 


1840.]  INDEPENDKNT  iN'ESTOlUANS.  423 

commenced  printing  the  Psalms  in  ancient  Syriac,  in  a  form  adapted  to 
the  Nestorian  church  service.  The  Nestorians  were  overjoyed  at  this 
acquisition  ;  for  hitherto  the  labor  of  supplying  the  schools,  by  the  slow 
process  of  transcription,  had  been  immense ;  and  supplying  the  whole 
clergy  and  people  with  the  means  of  knowledge  had  been  out  of  the 
question.  A  young  Muhanuriedan  noble,  a  member  of  the  school,  in- 
sisted that  his  brother  should  learn  to  print,  and  met  all  objections  with 
such  ingenuity  and  zeal,  that  he  w'as  allowed  to  take  his  place  among 
the  Nestorian  apprentices,  and  engage  in  printing  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures. The  Patriarch's  brother,  seeing  him  thus  employed,  quoted  the 
words  of  the  prophet  Joel :  "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  1  will  pour 
out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh." 

The  relations  of  the  mission  to  the  Mohammedans  continued  to  be 
interesting.  The  king's  uncle,  the  prince  Malek  Kasem  Mirza,  was  now 
governor  of  Ooroomiah.  While  residing  at  Shishewan,  on  the  south- 
east of  the  lake,  he  had  been  enthusiastically  engaged  in  attempts  to 
introduce  various  European  arts  and  manufactures.  His  experiments 
were  continued  at  Ooroomiah,  where  his  work-yard  presented  a  very  ani- 
mated and  interesting  scene.  He  sometimes  visited  the  missionaries, 
and  sometimes  entertained  them  at  his  palace.  One  of  his  nephews,  a 
prince  about  twenty-three  years  of  age,  already  distinguished  as  a  poet 
and  as  one  of  the  best  Persian  scholars  in  that  part  of  the  empire,  was 
a  pupil  in  the  school  for  Muhammedan  youtli.  The  prince-governor 
himself  was  inspector  of  schools  in  northern  Persia,  and  in  that  capa- 
city visited  both  the  Muhammedan  school  and  the  Nestorian  seminary, 
exhortino;  and  encourac^ino^  the  scholars  with  oood  effect. 

During  the  winter,  the  Patriarch  had  written  to  Dr.     i.Htrpemieiu  ws- 
Grant,  urging  him  to  return  to  the  mountains  in  the  spring,  '"""'"■ 

to  execute  the  plans  they  had  laid.  As  it  was  necessary  for  Dr.  Grant 
to  visit  the  United  States,  he  determined  to  visit  the  Patriarch  first,  and 
to  enter  the  mountains  from  the  east.  He  left  Ooroomiah,  May  7,  with 
his  son,  about  four  years  old,  and  accompanied  by  Mar  Yohanna  and 
Mar  Yoosuf.  At  Salinas  they  were  joined  by  two  brothers  of  the  Pa- 
triarch, w^ho  had  spent  the  winter  at  Ooroomiah.  They  found  the  Pa- 
triarch at  Julamerk,  where  they  remained  with  him  ten  days  ;  as  the 
bridge  leading  across  the  Zab  to  his  residence  had  just  been  swept  away 
by  the  torrent,  and  the  river  was  impassable.  After  full  and  friendly 
consultations,  both  with  the  Patriarch  and  with  Suleiman  Bey,  the  Hak- 
ary  chief  who  presided  in  the  absence  of  his  superior,  and  who  furnished 
him  with  a  letter  to  the  next  chief  on  his  route,  he  left  Julamerk,  May 
25,  returned  up  the  Zab  to  Bashkalleh,  and  thence  struck  across  the 
mountains  to  Van  ;  and  thence,  by  Erzerooin,  Constantinople  and 
Smyrna,  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  third  of  October. 

Meanwhile  the  Patriarch  had  a  visit  and  offer  of  help  Ain-worth.nrinass.m. 
from  another  quarter.  It  was  from  William  Ainsworth,  Esq.  and  Mr. 
Rassara,  who  travelled  at  the  joint  expense  of  the  English  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  and  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 


424  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1840. 

of  London.  Mr.  Rassam  is  a  native  of  Mosul,  of  Nestorian  descent. 
He  was  originally  a  "  Chaldean,"  as  the  Nestorians  who  have  submit- 
ted to  the  Pope  are  called.  When  Mr.  Perkins  Avas  at  Malta,  on  his 
way  to  commence  the  Nestorian  mission,  Mr.  Rassam  was  there,  in  the 
service  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schleinz,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  as 
a  translator,  and  performed  the  principal  labor  of  preparing  the  Syriac 
spelling  book,  for  the  use  of  the  mission  at  Ooroomiah.  At  Malta,  he 
embraced  Protestant  sentiments,  and  married  an  English  lady.  He 
was  now  English  vice-consul  at  Mosul.  Having  waited  some  time  for  the 
melting  of  the  snow  and  for  instruments  from  England,  they  left  Mosul 
on  Sabbath  evening,  June  7,  and  passing  through  the  village  of  Sheikh 
'Adi,  the  chief  seat  of  Yezidee  worship,  arrived  at  Amadieh  on  the  10th. 
They  sent  to  the  Nestorian  bishop  of  Berrawi  to  announce  their  coming 
and  request  a  free  passage,  and  having  obtained  a  favorable  answer, 
set  forward  on  the  13th,  accompanied  by  priest  Mandu,  of  Amadieh. 
They  spent  the  Sabbath  with  the  bishop,  at  and  near  Duree.  On 
Monday,  they  reached  Lezan,  the  first  village  of  the  independent  Nes- 
torians. The  next  day,  they  started  for  Asheetha,  the  most  important 
of  the  Tiyary  villages;  but  the  armed  guard  furnished  by  the  melik  of 
Lezan,  led  them  directly  towards  Julamerk,  and  they  did  not  discover 
their  error  till  it  was  too  late  to  correct  it.  On  Friday,  the  19th,  they 
reached  the  vicinity  of  Julamerk,  and  sent  notice  of  their  arrival  to  the 
Patriarch,  who  was  still  there.  The  Patriarch  replied,  by  their  mes- 
senger, that  it  would  not  be  best  for  them  to  enter  Julamerk,  where  all 
their  motions  would  be  watched,  and  no  private  conversation  permitted  ; 
but  his  brother  would  receive  them  at  a  neighboring  Armenian  village, 
where  he  would  visit  them  the  next  morning.  They  were  lodged  in 
the  vestibule  of  the  Armenian  church,  "  where,"  says  Mr.  Ainsworth, 
"  the  people  for  two  days  had  the  extreme  satisfaction  of  worrying  us 
till  we  had  nearly  lost  all  patience.  We  were  never,  for  one  moment, 
night  or  day,  without  a  number  of  men  around  us,  whose  only  amuse- 
ment was,  to  examine  all  our  things,  to  pass  jests,  and  fling  epithets 
of  scorn  upon  their  visitors.  I  was  not  allowed  to  take  any  notes, 
being  carefully  watched  night  and  day."  The  Patriarch  visited  them 
early  Saturday  morning,  and  apologized  for  the  mode  of  their  enter- 
tainment, by  saying  that  the  place  where  they  were  was  not  his  brother's 
home.  The  travellers  thought  him  "  evidently  timid  in  regard  to  the 
Koords."  They  gave  him  presents  of  calico,  boots,  olives,  pipe-tops, 
frankincense,  soap,  snuff,  &c."  The  value  of  which  formed  a  subject 
of  discussion  among  the  company  present.  The  Patriarch  hinted  that 
a  watch  would  be  acceptable.  They  then  entered  upon  the  subject  of 
their  agency.  Mr.  Ainsworth  says  :  "  The  Patriarch  felt  and  express- 
ed the  greatest  anxiety  to  enter  into  friendly  communications  with 
England,  and  to  avail  himself  of  the  kind  interest  felt  in  the  education 
and  moral  and  religious  improvement  of  his  people  by  many  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Great  Britain.  These  subjects  having  been  all  discussed 
at  length,  Mar  Shimon  took  his  departure  for  the  castle,  his  brother 


1840.]  INDEPENDENT    NESTOKIANS.       PERSIA.       AIKICA.  425 

remaining  to  keep  us  company."  Mr.  Ainsworth  says  nothing  of  any 
occurrence  on  the  Sabbath.  On  Monday  they  proceeded  on  their  jour- 
ney, and  following  the  Salraas  road,  arrived  at  Ooroomiah  on  Saturday 
night.  Without  stopping  to  visit  the  American  mission  or  the  Nesto- 
rian  clergy,  they  pursued  their  journey  the  next  morning,  and  returned 
by  way  ofthe  Sidek  pass,  on  the  south  of  the  Nestorian  country,  to  Mosul, 
where,  by  travelling  on  the  next  Sabbath  also,  they  arrived  on  Monday, 
July  6. 

There  is  another  account  of  this  visit,  which  it  seems  necessary  to 
mention,  though  it  cannot  be  given  as  authentic.  It  is,  substantially, 
as  follows:  Messrs.  Ainsworth  and  Rassam  were  at  first  supposed  to  be 
friends  and  fellow  laborers  of  the  American  mission  ;  but  their  conver- 
sation proved  them  the  reverse.  They  represented  the  American  mis- 
sionaries as  men  destitute  of  any  substantial  character,  as  enemies  of 
the  fasts  and  all  the  rules  and  institutions  of  the  church,  and  as  men 
against  whom  the  Patriarch  must  be  on  his  guard,  lest  they  should  per- 
vert his  people.  By  such  remarks  they  brought  upon  themselves  the 
suspicion  of  being  Roman  Catholics  in  disguise.  This  produced  an  ex- 
citement, which,  for  a  time,  threatened  to  be  dangerous.  They  then 
changed  their  tone,  said  the  American  missionaries  were  good  men, 
and  professed  to  be  their  friends.  They  were  very  anxious  to  make  an 
arrangement  with  the  Patriarch,  for  the  establishment  of  schools  among 
his  people  by  their  Society  ;  but  he  told  them  that  he  was  already  under 
an  engagement  with  Dr.  Grant,  and  would  not  assent  to  their  pro- 
posal ;  but,  as  a  means  of  avoiding  further  importunity,  he  consented 
to  receive  another  visit  from  them  the  next  year. 

It  would  be  unsafe  to  blame  any  one  severely,  on  the  authority  of 
this  report.  Mr.  Rassam  may  have  said  things  in  Syriac,  without  Mr. 
Ainsworth's  knowledge.  Mr.  Ainsworth,  in  attempting  to  converse 
with  people  of  a  strange  language,  may  have  been  misunderstood. 
The  story  may  have  undergone  changes  in  passing  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
Still,  it  is  certain  that  an  impression  of  this  kind  was  made  among  some 
of  the  Nestorians.  They  learned,  as  they  supposed,  that  there  were 
diflferent  and  rival  sects  in  Christendom,  who  were  anxious  to  be 
their  instructors,  and  who  might  be  induced  to  bid  against  each  other 
for  the  privilege.  On  this  belief,  one  man  built  a  fraudulent  attempt 
to  enrich  himself;  which,  however,  had  no  important  consequences, 
except  to  its  author. 

It  is  understood  that  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge 
has  decided  not  to  attempt  a  mission  among  the  Nestorians. 

At  Tabriz,  Mr.  Merrick  nearly  completed  his  work         Mi,.io„  ,o  u,. 
on  the  Life  and   Religion  of  Muhammed,  as  contained  in         Per-i^n. 
the  Persian  traditions,  and  assisted  the  Rev.  Mr.  Glen  in  revising  the 
Persian  translation  of  the  Old  Testament ;  but  he  found  no  opening  for 
direct  missionary  labor  among  the  Persians. 

In  southeastern  Africa,  the  destruction  of  the  tyrant  Miw...  to  1,0 zuiu.. 
Dingaan  was  completed.     In  January,  the  Boers  and  Umpandi  both 

54 


426  HISTORY   OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1840. 

marched  against  hira.  He  was  defeated  in  a  bloody  battle  by  Umpan- 
di,  and  then  pursued  by  a  detachment  of  the  Boers  to  the  extreme  limit 
of  the  Zulu  country.  Not  long  afterwards,  he  was  put  to  death  by  a 
native  chief,  whom,  in  the  days  of  his  power,  he  had  attempted  to 
destroy.  Umpandi  was  now  left  without  a  rival ;  but  it  was  uncertain 
how  the  Boers  would  finally  dispose  of  him  and  the  country.  He  ap- 
peared willing  to  have  a  mission  among  his  people,  but  no  definite 
arrangements  were  made  for  commencing  it,  till  the  next  year.  Mean- 
while, the  Sabbath  congregation  at  Umlazi  amounted  to  500  ;  the 
Sabbath  school  contained  more  than  200  children  ;  the  day  school, 
forty ;  and  there  was  preaching  regularly  on  the  Sabbath  at  a  place 
about  six  miles  from  the  station.  The  Boers  were  determined  to  have 
Mr.  Lindley  for  their  pastor.  They  built  him  a  house,  and  nearly  sup- 
ported him.  He  preached  to  them  on  the  Sabbath,  and  taught  a  school 
of  about  100  scholars.  He  found  some  pious  people  among  them,  and 
organized  a  church,  wdth  men  of  suitable  character  for  oflftcers.  They 
insisted  that  he  should  take  a  dismission  from  the  Board,  and  be  legally 
settled  among  them  as  a  minister  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 
They  offered  him  a  salary  of  ,£100,  besides  his  house,  and  more  if  it 
should  be  necessary.  They  insisted  that  they  needed  his  labors  as  much 
as  the  Zulus  did.  It  was  certain  that  a  large  part  of  the  Zulus  would 
be  settled  among  them,  as  a  dependent  peasantry,  and  that  the  preva- 
lence of  religion  among  them  was  indispensable  to  the  success  of  the 
mission.  For  such  reasons,  all  parties  thought  that  the  request  ought 
to  be  granted.     The  arrangement  has  since  been  made. 

Mr.  Grout  arrived  at  Port  Natal,  on  his  return,  June  30,  and  spent 
the  remainder  of  the  year   principally  in  making   arrangements  for  a 
new  station  somewhere  among  Umpandi's  people. 
Cape  Paimas.  In  Westcm  Africa,  the  most  important   change  was 

the  establishment  of  Dr.  Wilson  at  Fishtown,  early  in  September. 
Preaching  on  the  Sabbath  and  a  day  school  under  the  care  of  Mrs.  Wil- 
son were  soon  commenced,  and  successfully  maintained.  At  the  close 
of  the  year,  the  communicants  in  the  Cape  Palmas  mission  church  were 
twenty-three,  of  whom  twelve  were  natives.  The  pupils  in  the  semi- 
nary were  about  fifty,  and  in  all  the  schools,  125.  The  native  super- 
stitions were  evidently  losing  their  power.  It  was  supposed  that  one 
third  of  the  influential  men  at  Fair  Hope  had  thrown  away  their  gree- 
grees.  Many  openly  denounced  the  fetish  men  as  impostors.  The 
touch  of  salt  water,  it  was  supposed,  would  drive  the  fetish  man's  devil 
away,  and  destroy  his  power.  As  a  punishment  for  some  oflTensive  con- 
duct, the  people  dragged  eight  of  them  to  the  sea  shore,  and  gave  them 
a  thorough  immersion  ;  assuring  the  rest  of  the  class,  that  they  must 
behave  themselves  well,  or  receive  the  same  treatment. 
Cherokee  Mission.  Thc  CherokcB  missiou,  and  the  Cherokees  themselves, 

still  felt  the  consequences  of  their  late  removal.  They  had  a  govern- 
ment, acknowledged  by  both  parties  among  themselves,  but  not  ac- 
knowledged by  the  United  States,  and  unable  to  repress  disorders  and 


1840.]  INDIAN    MISSIONS.  427 

immorality  as  was  desirable ;  and  their  minds  were  distracted  by  the 
insecurity  and  uncertainty  of  their  affairs.  The  strength  of  the  mis- 
sion, too,  was  reduced.  Mrs.  Worcester  died  in  May,  Mr.  Washburn 
obtained  a  dismission  in  June,  and  others  were  absent.  Yet  more  was 
accomplished  than  could  have  been  expected.  The  school  house  at 
D wight  was  rebuilt,  and  the  school  opened  in  March.  About  225 
children  received  instruction,  during  some  part  of  the  year,  in  five 
schools.  The  native  preachers,  Huss  and  Foreman,  were  laborious, 
acceptable  and  useful.  Five  Cherokees  were  added  to  the  church  at 
Honey  Creek,  where  Huss  was  stationed,  in  April,  seven  in  August, 
and  two  in  October ;  and  seven  others  were  candidates  for  admission. 
Some  of  the  other  churches  received  small  accessions. 

The  Choctaws  were  beginning  to  recover  from  the  cimcuw  Mis.ion. 
effects  of  their  removal.  Sixty-six  were  added  to  the  churches.  A 
new  church  was  organized  in  August,  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 
country,  where  the  people  were  mostly  Chickasaws.  There,  almost  a 
hundred  miles  from  the  mission,  some  who  had  been  members  of  the 
old  Chickasaw  church  at  Monroe,  east  of  the  Mississippi,  had  kept  up 
meetings  for  prayer,  singing  and  exhortation.  The  Spirit  of  God  had 
been  with  them,  and  souls  had  been  converted.  This  new  church,  at 
the  end  of  the  year,  contained  thirty-three  members,  fifteen  of  whom 
were  received  on  examination.  The  chief  instruments  of  this  preserva- 
tion and  revival  of  religion  were  two  black  men,  who  were  slaves. 
The  Board  had  six  schools  in  the  nation,  with  about  160  pupils,  and 
there  were  three  government  schools  with  67  pupils. 

The  Pawnee  mission  could  do  little  but  wait  for  the  p.iwn«.. 

completion  of  arrangements  for  commencing  the  new  settlement  on  the 
spot  that  had  been  selected.  The  settlement  was  not  commenced  till 
the  next  year. 

During  the  year  ending  with  May,  1840,  five  persons  sioux. 

were  added  to  the  church  at  Lac  qui  Parle ;  and  during  the  remainder 
of  that  year  and  the  first  five  months  of  the  next,  nine  more ;  making 
the  whole  number,  from  the  beginning,  forty,  exclusive  of  the  mission 
families.  The  Lake  Harriet  church  contained  seven  members.  About 
a  hundred  attended  school  some  part  of  the  year.  The  translation  of 
the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Luke,  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  was 
completed,  and  some  other  parts  of  Scripture  commenced.  A  vocabu- 
lary of  about  6000  Dakota  words  had  been  collected,  and  some  pro- 
gress was  made  in  preparing  a  grammar  of  the  language.  In  Septem- 
ber, Mr.  Riggs  and  Mr.  Huggins  visited  the  western  bands  of  the  Sioux. 
On  reaching  the  Missouri,  they  found  it  a  mile  in  width,  the  same 
rapid  and  muddy  stream  as  where  it  joins  the  Mississippi,  a  thousand 
miles  below.  The  western  bands  seemed  less  prejudiced  against  Chris- 
tianity than  the  eastern,  and  more  willing  to  receive  missionaries. 
They  found  reason  to  believe  that  the  whole  number  of  Sioux  was  about 
25,000.     From  a  careful  observation  of  births  and  deaths,  and  from 


428  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1840. 

other  evidence,  Dr.  Williamson  concluded  that  the  Dakota  race  was 
increasing  in  numbers. 

ojibwns.  Among  the  Ojibwas,  the  most  noticeable  event  was  the 

religious  awakening  at  Pokeguma,  early  in  the  winter.  At  one  time, 
it  seemed  to  affect  nearly  all  the  adults  in  the  congregation.  Twelve 
or  fifteen,  including  some  white  men  residing  in  the  vicinity,  professed 
to  renounce  their  sins  and  take  the  word  of  God  for  their  rule  of  life. 
During  the  summer,  the  congregation  was  scattered ;  but  on  the  return 
of  winter,  it  became  larger  than  at  any  former  time,  and  religious  feel- 
ing seemed  to  revive.  There  was  an  evident  progress  in  regard  for 
education  and  the  arts  of  civilized  life. 

sbickbriiige.  Of  the  five  members  of  the  Stockbridge  church  who 

died  this  year,  one  was  Bartholomew  S.  Calvin,  a  Delaware  by  birth. 
In  his  youth,  he  was  selected  by  the  Rev.  John  Brainerd,  brother  and 
successor  of  the  celebrated  David  Brainerd,  to  receive  a  liberal  educa- 
tion at  the  expense  of  the  Society  in  Scotland  for  Propagating  Chris- 
tian Knowledge.  In  his  sophomore  year,  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
stopped  the  transmission  of  funds.  He  was  obliged  to  leave  college, 
and  passed  many  years  as  a  schoolmaster.  About  the  year  1806  he 
joined  a  Baptist  church ;  but  afterwards  became  intemperate,  and  his 
ruin  appeared  inevitable.  In  the  revival  which  followed  the  establish- 
ment of  this  mission  of  the  Board  in  1828,  Calvin  was  brought  to  re- 
pentance, and  from  that  time  was  an  eminent  pattern  of  temperance 
and  piety.  His  mother  had  been  converted  under  the  preaching  of 
David  Brainerd. — At  the  close  of  the  year,  an  interesting  revival  was 
commencing  at  this  mission. 

Easiern  Indians.  AmoHg  the  Ncw  York  ludians  and  Abernaquis  in  Can- 

ada, the  history  of  the  year  was  moderately  favorable,  without  any  re- 
markable event. 

Oregon.  But  little  is  known  of  the  history  of  the  Oregon  mission 

for  this  year;  and  probably  but  few  noticeable  events  occurred.  It  ap- 
pears, however,  that  among  the  Kayuses  and  Flatheads,  the  usual  work 
of  a  young  mission  went  on  with  encouraging  success ;  while  among 
the  Nez  Perces  appearances  were  less  promising. 

sandw.ci,  uiands.  At  thc  Saudwich  Islands,  it  was  time  for  those  who  had 
been  affected,  but  not  truly  converted,  in  the  great  revival,  to  fall  away; 
for  those  who  only  counterfeited  piety,  to  become  tired  of  their  hypocri- 
sy, and  throw  off  the  mask  ;  and  for  Christians  whose  zeal  had  outrun 
their  other  graces,  to  grow  unreasonably  cool  and  careless.  In  short, 
it  was  time  for  a  reaction ;  and  this  reaction  was  aided  by  all  the  power 
of  popery  and  intemperance.  Yet,  during  the  year,  there  was  more  or 
less  of  revival  at  all  the  stations  on  Hawaii,  and  at  some  places  on  the 
other  islands.  At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  the  number  of  admis- 
sions within  twelve  months  had  been  4179,  and  the  number  from  the 
beginning,  21,379.  There  were  nineteen  churches,  containing  18,451 
members  in  regular  standing.     The  church  at  Hilo  contained  7022 


1840.]  SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  429 

members.  At  Wairaea,  on  Hawaii,  2016  had  been  suspended  for  un- 
christian conduct  during  the  year,  and  1127  of  them  remained  under 
censure,  while  3404  were  in  regular  standing.  Tiie  cases  of  suspen- 
sion in  all  the  other  churches  were  418,  of  whom  105  had  been  restor- 
ed. Excommunications  in  all  the  churches  had  been  202  during  the 
year,  and  327  from  the  beginning.  Among  the  deaths,  the  most  im- 
portant was  that  of  Hoapili,  the  governor  of  Maui,  the  highest  male 
chief  except  the  king.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  converts  and  most 
eminent  Christians  in  the  nation. 

Popery  and  intemperance  rendered  each  other  important  aid.  The 
priests  aided  the  grog-shops,  by  teaching  the  lawfulness  of  drinking  al- 
coholic drinks  ;  and  the  grog-shops  nourished  an  appetite  which  made 
people  love  such  preaching  and  follow  the  preachers.  Grog-shops 
were  muliiplied  at  Honolulu,  and  in  some  parts  of  Oahu  the  natives  be- 
gan to  manufacture  a  kind  of  whisky.  Fanaticism  of  the  grossest  form 
lent  its  aid.  One  man  on  Oahu  pretended  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  ob- 
tained followers.  Some  pretended  to  be  possessed  by  devils,  and 
another  pretended  to  cast  out  devils  by  a  variety  of  incantations.  Uni- 
versalism  and  infidelity  showed  themselves,  and  heathen  songs  and 
sports  were  resumed.  All  these  forms  of  error,  folly  and  vice  belonged 
to  one  party,  and  composed  a  grand  anti-protestant  influence,  of  uhich 
popery  was  the  exciter  and  the  leader.  A  bishop  and  three  priests 
arrived  early  in  the  year,  and  three  more  priests  and  some  lay  assist- 
ants in  November.  They  made  vigorous  efforts  to  obtain  converts, 
especially  on  Oahu,  and  in  the  western  and  northern  parts  of  Hawaii ; 
hut  were  less  successful  than  they  expected  to  be,  and  indeed  less  than 
they  thought  they  were.  Hundreds  of  apparent  converts  left  them  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  year.  At  Kailua,  they  were  deliberately  cheated. 
A  large  number  of  natives,  acting  in  concert,  joined  under  a  fictitious 
name.  Having  gratified  their  curiosity  by  seeing  "  the  pope  and  the 
images"  to  the  best  advantage,  they  disappeared ;  and  when  the  priests 
inquired  for  them,  no  such  persons  could  be  found.  In  all  parts  of  the 
Islands,  those  who  witnessed  the  Roman  Catholic  worship  generally 
agreed  that  it  was  idolatry,  a  religion  of  the  same  kind,  essentially, 
with  that  which  they  had  practised  in  the  days  of  Kamehameha  the 
great.  David  Malo,  one  of  the  most  intelligent  of  the  natives,  made  the 
tour  of  Oahu  for  the  purpose  of  lecturing  on  the  subject,  for  which  his 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  old  idolatry  admirably  qualified  him.  When 
the  priest  insisted  that  their  use  of  images  was  not  exactly  worship,  the 
natives  quoted  from  the  Second  Commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  not  bow 
down  unto  them."  The  bowing  down  could  neither  be  denied,  nor  ex- 
plained away  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people.  But  very  few  of  the 
members  of  the  churches  became  their  followers.  Even  those  who 
were  under  censure  very  generally  rejected  them. 

The  United  States  Exploring  Expedition  arrived  about  the  last  of 
September,  and  remained  seventy  days.  Commodore  Wilkes  "  set  his 
face  as  a  flint  against  intemperance,  and  the  rash  doings  of  Capt.  La- 


430  HISTORY    OF   THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  £1840. 

place.  Capt.  Hudson,  a  pious  man,  visited  the  churches,  and  repeated- 
ly addressed  them  with  good  effect.  The  general  deportment  both  of 
the  officers  and  scientific  corps  was  such  as  to  strengthen  every  good 
influence.  The  squadron  expended  62,000  dollars  for  the  supply  of  its 
wants  while  at  the  Islands. 

In  October,  the  king  visited  Honolulu.  The  state  of  morals  on  the 
island  was  made  known  to  him.  Commodore  Wilkes,  his  officers  and 
the  American  consul  gave  their  advice.  The  result  was  the  publica- 
tion of  a  law,  prohibiting  his  subjects  to  make  or  use  intoxicating  drinks. 
About  the  same  time.  Christians  were  alarmed  at  the  growing  degene- 
racy and  the  fall  of  some  members  of  the  churches.  Special  prayer, 
public  confession  of  unfaithfulness  and  renewal  of  covenant  was  follow- 
ed by  appropriate  effort,  especially  at  Ewa.  Intemperance,  except  the 
town  of  Honolulu,  was  effectually  stopped,  the  tide  of  demoralization 
was  turned  back,  and  piety  visibly  revived.  December  6,  101  were 
added  to  the  Second  Church  at  Honolulu,  making  286  during  the  year 
1840. 

The  common  school  system  was  in  danger.  Principally  through  the 
influence  of  the  Seminary  at  Lahainaluna,  there  was  a  better  supply  of 
teachers  than  formerly,  but  they  weie  leaving  the  employment.  The 
new  code  of  laws  left  every  native,  master  of  his  own  earnings,  except 
so  much  as  went  to  pay  his  taxes  ;  and  the  teachers  began  to  be  left 
without  support.  To  remedy  this  evil,  a  law  was  enacted  near  the 
close  of  the  year,  requiring  all  children  over  four  and  under  fourteen 
years  of  age  to  attend  school  five  days  every  week.  A  piece  of  land 
was  also  to  be  set  apart  in  each  school  district  for  the  support  of  the 
teacher  -,  and  each  man  was  to  labor  on  it  nine  days  in  the  year.  Three 
of  these  days  were  to  be  taken  from  the  king's  time,  three  from  the 
local  chiefs,  and  three  from  his  own.  Under  this  law,  the  schools  rap- 
idly increased  in  numbers. 

The  progress  of  the  natives  in  the  various  arts  of  civilized  life  was 
slow,  but  manifest ;  though  manifestly  checked  by  the  demoralization 
which  popery  and  its  attendant  vices  had  introduced.  Several  good 
meeting  houses  and  school  houses  were  built.  There  was  an  increase 
of  comfortable  private  dwellings,  and  some  improvement  of  roads  and 
bridges.  At  Wailuku,  Mr.  Armstrong  assisted  in  breaking  twelve  yoke 
of  oxen,  and  transportation  on  the  backs  of  men  was  going  out  of  use. 
At  the  king's  request,  he  had  encouraged  the  growth  of  sugar  cane,  of 
which  there  was  a  fine  crop  of  sixty  or  seventy  acres,  and  a  good  mill, 
erected  by  a  China-man,  for  its  manufacture.  The  plough  was  begin- 
ing  to  assume  its  proper  station.  There  was  some  reason  to  hope  that 
the  progress  of  depopulation  had  been  checked.  Dr.  Andrews  found 
that  at  North  Kona,  on  Hawaii,  the  births  were  more  numerous  than 
the  deaths;  affording  a  ground  for  hope,  that  the  Hawaiian  race  might 
be  preserved  from  extinction. 


1841.]  CRISIS    IN    RESPECT   TO   FUNDS.  431 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

1841. — Annual  meeting  at  Philadelphia. — Crisis  in  respect  to  funds.— Special 
meeting. — Mahratta  mission. — New  station.^ — Mission  divided.— Madras. 
— Admissions  to  the  church. — Ceylon. — Reitiforccment — Singapore. —  Mis- 
sion discontinued. — Siam. — Conversions. — Greece. — The  catechism. — Sta- 
tion at  Ariopolis  broi<en  up. — Turkey. — Continued  progress. — Armenian  re- 
volution.— Oorooniiah. — Mr.  Stocking  ordained. — Independent  Nestorians. 
—Station  at  Mosul. — Death  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  MitchelL—Dr.  Grant's  third 
visit  to  the  mountains. — War. — Syria. — Political  intrigues. — The  Druze 
nation  applies  for  instruction. — Schools  established. — Interference. — War. — 
The  Maronites  expelled  from  the  Druze  district. —  Operations  again  extend- 
ed.— Sandwich  Islands. — Statistics  for  May,  1841. 

The  thirty-second  annua]  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  at  Phila- 
delphia, on  the  8th,  9th  and  10th  days  of  September.  The  Hon.  John 
Cotton  Smith,  president  of  the  Board,  resigned  his  office  by  letter.  The 
Hon,  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  vice  presiclent,  presided  in  his  absence, 
and  was  chosen  his  successor.  The  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Williams  was 
chosen  vice  president. 

The  receipts  during  the  financial  year,  ending  July  31,  had  been 
$235,189,30;  being  $6,501,74  less  than  last  year.  The  expenditures 
had  been  $268,914,79.  The  debt  had  risen  to  $57,808,91.  This  de- 
ficiency had  taken  place,  notwithstanding  unusual  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  Prudential  Committee  to  raise  funds. 

For  several  years,  every  mission  had  been  required  to  send  estimates 
of  its  necessary  expenses  for  every  year,  in  time  for  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee to  consider  them,  make  appropriations,  and  inform  the  mission 
before  the  commencement  of  the  year.  The  appropriations  for  the 
year  now  commencing  had  been  made  on  the  most  economical  scale, 
and  were  far  below  the  actual  wants  of  the  mission.  Yet  those  appro- 
priations could  not  be  met,  without  an  increase  of  receipts,  or  raising 
the  debt  to  nearly  $100,000.  This  deficiency  had  existed  ever  since 
1836  ;  and  to  allow  it  not  only  to  continue,  but  to  run  up  to  an  amount 
greater  than  the  whole  amount  of  permanent  funds,  would  shake  the 
credit  of  the  Board.  It  might  even  be  doubtful  whether  loans  to  a 
greater  amount  than  the  permanent  funds  could  be  obtained.  Running 
in  debt  so  as  to  destroy  the  credit  of  the  Board  in  the  commercial  world, 
would  not  only  bring  reproach  upon  the  cause  of  missions  and  upon  re- 
ligion in  general,  but  be  bad  economy.  By  its  established  credit,  which 
renders  its  bills  as  good  as  cash  in  all  the  principal  marts  of  commerce 
throughout  the  world,  the  Board  is  able  to  save  thousands  of  dollars 
annually  in  the  transmission  of  funds.     And  above  all,  the  Committee 


432  HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1841. 

could  not,  without  acting  dishonestly,  promise  to  pay,  without  having 
what  men  of  business  would  esteem  a  reasonable  prospect  of  being  able 
to  pay.  It  is  sometimes  a  duty  to  draw  on  the  "  bank  of  faith,"  when 
the  loss,  should  the  bill  be  protested,  must  fall  on  ourselves  ;  but  never, 
when  it  may  fall  on  our  creditors.  It  was  certain,  therefore,  that  there 
must  be  a  large  increase  of  receipts,  or  some  of  the  missions  must  be 
abandoned  and  the  missionaries  recalled.  It  was  plain,  too,  that  the  de- 
ficiency was  not  an  accidental  occurrence,  which  the  accidents  of  other 
years  might  be  expected  to  balance.  There  had  been  a  steady  defi- 
ciency for  six  successive  years.  The  principal  English  Missionary  So- 
cieties were  still  more  deeply  in  debt,  and  all  from  the  same  cause. 
The  blessing  of  God  on  missionary  labors  had  caused  a  demand  for  the 
means  of  grace  in  the  heathen  world,  which  it  cost  a  large  amount  of 
money  to  meet.  Recalling  missionaries  w^ould  be  denying  the  means 
of  grace  to  heathen  who  were  asking  for  them,  that  Christians  might 
save  their  money.  And  it  would  be  establishing  a  new  standard  of 
missionary  effort.  "When  the  Board  was  formed,  and  for  many  years 
afterwards,  the  spirit  of  Christian  liberality  was  in  advance  of  the  de- 
mand upon  it.  More  money  was  given,  than  there  was  opportunity  to 
expend  judiciously.  The  universally  approved  practice  then  was,  for 
the  Board  to  seek  and  seize  opportunities  of  judicious  expenditure;  and 
its  friends  expected  to  meet  the  expense.  The  rule  then  was,  that  the 
supply  of  money  should  be  regulated  by  the  opportunities  for  using  it 
profitably.  To  recall  missionaries,  would  be  to  adopt  the  rule,  that  the 
amount  of  effort  must  be  regulated  by  the  supply  of  money ;  leaving 
the  giver  to  be  guided  by  no  rule  but  his  own  feelings.  Under  such  a 
rule,  as  any  one  who  understands  human  nature  must  see,  foreign  mis- 
sions would  rapidly  dwindle,  and  soon  become  extinct.  It  was  evident, 
therefore,  that  the  cause  of  foreign  missions  had  reached  a  crisis.  It 
could  no  longer  go  on  as  it  had  done.  It  must  inevitably  be  sustained 
on  a  more  liberal  scale,  or  come  rapidly  to  nothing.  The  most  rigorous 
calculations  showed,  that  an  increase  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  on  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  last  year  was  the  least  sura  that  could  sustain  the  opera- 
tions and  credit  of  the  Board.  The  investigations  commenced  last  year 
had  shown,  that  the  professed  supporters  of  the  Board  were  abundantly 
able  to  do  much  more  than  this.     But  could  they  be  induced  to  do  it  ? 

This  subject  was  referred  to  a  large  and  able  committee,  who  report- 
ed, that  the  Prudential  Committe  be  instructed  not  to  recall  any  mis- 
sionary for  the  sake  of  diminishing  expense ;  and  that  an  increase  of 
twenty-five  per  cent,  upon  the  receipts  of  the  last  year  was  necessary, 
and  could  be  made  without  sacrificing  the  comfort  of  any  individual. 
They  recommended,  also,  in  detail,  a  vigorous  use  of  the  various  modes 
of  appeal  and  of  raising  funds  which  had  already  been  practised.  This 
led  to  a  discussion  of  intense  interest.  Similar  recommendations  had 
been  voted  annually,  for  several  years,  and  had  failed  to  answer  their 
purpose.  Many  felt  that  something  more  must  be  done.  Members  of 
the  Prudential  Committee  declared  that  they  could  not  assume  the  res- 


1841.]  SPECIAL   MEETING.  433 

ponsibiljty  of  going  forward  in  the  labors  assigned  them,  unless  some 
more  elfeclual  means  for  increasing  the  funds  should  be  adopted.  In- 
stead of  adjourning  at  noon  on  the  third  day  of  the  meeting,  the  Board 
resolved  to  continue  in  session  till  the  question  should  be  satisfactorily 
settled.  A  deep  sense  of  personal-responsibility  prevaded  the  assembly, 
and  the  discussions  weve  frequently  suspended,  to  engage  in  prayer. 

At  length,  on  motion  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards,  it  was  resolved  unan- 
imously, that  the  following  questions  be  proposed  to  every  corporate 
and  honorary  member  of  the  Board  then  present : — 

"  1.  Will  you,  in  view  of  the  facts  presented,  raise  your  subscription,  the 
coming  year,  twenty-five  per-cent.? 

"2.  Will  you  attempt  to  inJuce  all  others,  upon  whom  it  is,  in  your  opin- 
ion, proper  that  you  should  exert  influence,  to  do  the   same? 

'•3.  Will  you,  with  the  leave  of  Providence,  attend  the  meeting  of  the 
Board  the  next  year,  and  inlbrm  them  what  the  Lord  hath  enabled  you  to  do, 
and  what  he  hath  accomplished  through  your  labors?  Or,  if  necessarily  de- 
tained, will  you  communicate  such  information  ?" 

After  again  uniting  in  prayer,  the  President  addressed  these  ques- 
tions to  each  member  in  succession,  while  the  Secretaries,  by  order  of 
the  Board,  recorded  the  answers.  Almost  every  answer  was  in  the  af- 
firmative ;  and  the  exceptions  were  known  in  most  cases,  and  presumed 
in  all,  to  be  for  sufficient  reason.  Some  promised  to  increase  their  do- 
nations fifty  per  cent.,  some  a  hundred,  and  some  still  more.  The  Secre- 
taries for  Correspondence  were  directed  to  address  the  same  questions, 
with  an  account  of  these  transactions,  to  every  absent  member  of  the 
Board,  corporate  and  honorary. 

On  further  consideration,  it  was  thought  unsafe  to  wait  a  year  be- 
fore knowing  the  result.  It  was  therefore  resolved  to  hold  a  special 
meeting  at  New  York,  on  the  ]8th  of  January,  1842,  at  which  the  re- 
sult, up  to  that  time,  should  be  reported. 

Shortly  before  the  annual  meeting,  the  Prudential  Committee  had 
issued  a  specimen  number  of  the  "  Dayspring,"  a  small  monthly  paper, 
to  be  issued  in  packages,  at  the  price  of  eight  copies  for  a  dollar  a  year. 
The  Board  at  this  meeting,  advised  the  Committee  to  go  on  with  the 
publication,  as  an  important  means  of  disseminating  mis^^ionary  intelli- 
gence more  widely.  It  was  to  commence  with  the  year  1842.  A 
"  Dayspring  Extra,"  of  50,000  copies,  containing  an  abridged  account 
of  the  meeting,  was  issued ;  and  about  2900  copies  of  a  circular,  con- 
taining the  three  questions  and  the  occasion  of  them,  were  sent  to  the 
corporate  and  honorary  members  of  the  Board.  At  the  time  of  the 
special  meeting,— which,  though  it  occurred  in  1842,  must  be  mention- 
ed in  this  connection, — answers  to  these  circulars  had  been  received 
from  218  ministers  and  79  laymen,  scattered  through  the  country  from 
Main  to  Georgia,  and  from  Louisiana  to  Wisconsin.  Ecclesiastical 
bodies  and  auxiliary  societies  in  New  England  and  New  York  had  also 
spoken  on  the  subject.  Counting  the  members  of  the  Board  which  be- 
longed to  these  bodies,  not  less  than  600  had  replied.     Other  friends 

55 


434  HISTORY   OF   THE    AMERICAN    BOARD,  [1841. 

of  the  cause  had  forwarded  their  thoughts  and  purposes  by  letter.  In 
all  these  answers,  the  course  pursued  at  the  annual  meeting  was  approv- 
ed, and  co-operation  w^as  pledged.  In  many  places  collections  or  sub- 
scriptions for  the  year  had  already  been  made,  exceeding  those  of  the 
previous  year  by  twenty-five,  fifty,  or  one  hundred  per  cent.  At  the 
special  meeting,  the  first  that  the  Board  had  ever  held,  the  Treasurer  re- 
ported that  the  calls  on  his  department  had  all  been  met,  and  the  debt 
was  reduced  to  about  $20,0C0,  There  seemed  to  be  a  new  develop- 
ment of  the  missionary  spirit,  stronger  and  more  widely  prevalent  than 
had  before  been  seen ;  a  deliberate  purpose  to  carry  on  the  work,  as 
God  should  give  opportunities,  though  at  the  expense  of  effort  and  self- 
denial,  till  the  whole  world  should  be  blessed  by  its  influence.  The 
afternoon  and  evening  of  the  second  day  of  the  meeting  were  devoted 
to  special  thanksgiving  and  praise  to  God,  for  his  goodness  to  the 
Board  and  the  missions,  especially  in  so  far  relieving  them  from  embar- 
rassment, and  affording  such  encouragement  to  hope,  that  his  people 
would  sustain  the  missionary  work  in  its  onward  progress. 


The  history  of  the  missions  for  the  year  1841  cannot  yet  be  written, 
as  some  of  the  necessary  documents  are  not  yet  received,  A  brief 
sketch  of  the  principal  events  already  known,  must  therefore  suffice. 

Missions  in  India.  Mr.  Frcnch,  of  the  Mahratta  mission,  commenced  a 

new  station  at  Seroor,  on  the  21st  of  May.  Seroor  is  28  miles  from 
Ahmednuggur,  on  the  road  to  Poona.  At  Ahmednuggur,  two  converts 
were  added  to  the  church  on  the  28th  of  March,  and  four  others  on  the 
30th  of  May.  The  Prudential  Committee  voted,  August  24,  that  this 
mission  be  divided  into  two ;  one  including  Bombay  and  Malcolm 
Peth,  and  the  other  Ahmednuggur  and  other  stations  in  the  Deccan. 

To  the  church  at  Madras,  sixteen  new  members  were  added,  Sep- 
tember 26,  of  whom  fifteen  were  natives.  Two  of  the  natives  had 
been  Roman  Cathohcs  ;  but,  in  their  opinion,  Romanism  and  Hindoo- 
ism  are  so  intermingled  and  so  much  alike,  that  their  baptism  as  Ro- 
man Cathohcs  deserved  to  be  considered  as  an  idolatrous  and  not  a 
Christian  rite.  They  therefore  requested  Christian  Baptism,  and  it  was 
administered.  One  of  the  natives  had  been  a  heathen,  and  the  others 
nominal  Protestants,  by  birth,  who  had  lived  in  the  neglect  of  religion. 

The  Ceylon  mission  was  reinforced.  October  14,  the  Rev,  B.  C. 
Meigs,  who  had  visited  his  native  country  after  an  absence  of  about 
twenty-five  years,  embarked  at  Boston  on  his  return,  accompanied  by 
the  Rev.  Messrs.  S.  G.  Whittelsey,  R.  Wyman,  J.  C.  Smith  and  their 
wives. 

sou.heasiern  Asia.  Mr.  Tracv  aud  hls  wlfc,  of  the  Singapore  mission,  ar- 

rived at  Philadelphia  on  their  return,  August  7  ;  having  spent  some 
time  at  the  Neilgherry  Hills,  in  vain  attempts  to  recover  their  health. 
August  17,  the  Prudential  Committee  resolved  to  discontinue  this  mis- 


1841.]  SIAM.     GREECE.  435 

sion.  Sinpjapore  had  been  found  a  less  advantageous  point  for  com- 
municating with  other  places,  than  it  had  been  represented  to  be ;  as 
navigation  must  depend  on  the  course  of  the  periodical  winds  and  cur- 
rents from  time  to  time,  and  upon  other  causes,  which  rendered  inter- 
course by  sea  usually  slow  and  uncertain.  The  unexpected  regulations  of 
the  Dutch  government  excluded  the  mission  from  a  large  and  important  part 
of  its  intended  field  of  influence.  By  the  labors  and  influence  of  the  mission, 
the  Singapore  Institution  had  been  revived,  and  many  other  things  ac- 
complished for  the  good  of  tiie  city  and  its  vicinity.  The  London  Mission- 
ary Society  had  resumed  its  operations  there,  and  the  American  Presby- 
terian Board  had  commenced  a  mission  ;  so  that  the  place  would  not  be 
left  without  an  ample  supply  of  such  labors.  The  Committee  therefore 
authorized  Mr.  Bull  to  join  the  Chinese  department  of  the  mission  in 
Siam,  and  Mr.  North  to  enter  the  service  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society.  The  Seminary  was  to  be  offered  to  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  and  if  not  accepted,  to  the  Presbyterian  mission  ;  the  appara- 
tus, if  not  sold,  sent  to  Siam  ;  articles  belonging  to  the  type  foundry 
and  printing  office  to  be  distributed  among  the  missions  in  Siam,  China, 
Ceylon  and  Madras ;  and  all  other  property  to  be  sold. 

The  mission  in  Siam  continued  to  enjoy  entire  toleration  from  the 
government,  and  even  the  priests  made  no  opposition  to  its  labors. 
Tracts  were  freely  distributed,  even  in  front  of  the  king's  palace  ;  and 
it  was  customary  to  visit  the  wats  (temples),  and  with  the  assent  of  the 
priests,  give  tracts  to  the  boys  w^ho  were  there  at  school.  The  priests 
themselves  were  often  furnished  with  tracts  at  their  own  request.  The 
priests  in  Siam,  lay  down  their  office  w^hen  they  please.  Comparative- 
ly few  of  them  remain  in  the  priesthood  more  than  a  year  or  two,  and 
the  sons  of  nobles  seldom  more  than  three  months.  Hence  they  have 
not  the  same  interested  motives  for  opposing  missions,  which  influence 
the  priesthood  in  other  countries.  This  year,  the  mission  began  to 
reap  a  spiritual  harvest.  In  September,  two  Siamese  stood  propounded 
for  admission  to  the  church,  three  others  gave  evidence  of  a  change  of 
heart,  and  many  others  appeared  seriously  impressed  with  divine  truth. 

The  mission  in  Greece  suffered  from  the  course  pursued  '■'•'" 

by  the  government.  An  order  was  issued,  requiring  that  the  catechism 
of  the  Greek  church  should  be  taught  in  all  the  Hellenic  schools,  and 
Mr.  Leyburn  vvris  informed  that  this  order  applied  to  the  Hellenic 
school  at  Ariopolis,  as  well  as  to  others.  The  Greek  church  rejects  the 
worship  of  images,  but  approves  the  worship  of  pictures,  and  the  cate- 
chism teaches  accordingly.  It  also  contains  some  other  errors  of  a  kindred 
character.  Mr.  Leyburn  decided  that  he  could  not  teach  the  catechism 
nor  allow  others  to  teach  it  in  his  school.  A  long  negotiation  follow- 
ed, which  was  principally  conducted  at  Athens,  by  Dr.  King.  The 
mission  proposed  that  if  the  government  should  employ  catechists,  to 
assemble  the  pupils  in  the  church,  and  teach  the  catechism  there.  The 
government  assented,  on  condition  that  no  religious  instruction  should 
be  given  in  the  school  j  by  which  they  meant,  that  not  even  the  New- 


436  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1841. 

Testament  might  be  read  there.  The  missionaries  would  not  con- 
sent to  teach  what  they  did  not  beheve,  nor  to  maintain  a  school  from 
which  religious  instruction  must  be  excluded.  The  school  was  there- 
fore closed,  and  the  station  abandoned.  The  government  was  doubtless 
encouraged  in  this  controversy,  by  the  course  of  Mr.  Hill,  of  the  Ameri- 
can Episcopal  mission,  who  received  the  catechism  into  his  school,  and 
had  it  taught  there. 

Missions  in  Turkey.  At  Constantlnoplc,  Broosa  and  Smyrna,  there  was  an 

evident  progress  of  piety  among  the  Armenians;  and  perhaps  the  same 
may  be  said  of  Trebizond.  In  September,  Mr.  Goodell  supposed  that 
the  "  enlightened  Armenians"  amounted  to  "  some  thousands."  These 
the  multitude  regarded  as  converts  of  the  mission  ;  though  the  mission- 
aries supposed  but  a  small  part  of  them  to  be  truly  converted  persons. 
The  good  work  was  spreading  to  places  where  there  were  no  mission- 
aries. There  was  a  company  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  enlightened  and 
apparently  pious  Armenians  at  Ada  Bazaar,  or  Adaljazar,  some  thirty 
miles  eastward  from  Nicornedia.  They  received  their  first  impulse 
from  books,  which  one  of  them  procured  at  Constantinople.  They  had 
never  seen  a  missionary,  till  Mr.  Schneider,  from  Broosa,  visited  them 
in  October.  He  found  that  the  work  had  spread  into  at  least  five  other 
villages  in  that  region.  The  way  seemed  to  be  prepared  for  missions 
at  Van,  Bitlis,  Erzengan,  Karahissar,  Tocat  and  other  places  in  Asia, 
and  at  Bucharest  and  Adrianople  in  Europe.  An  almost  unlimited  supply 
of  native  helpers  appeared  to  be  indispensable,  and  the  number  of  stu- 
dents in  the  seminary  was  increased  to  twenty-four,  and  many  appli- 
cants for  admission  were  refused  for  want  of  funds.  The  course  of  the 
Patriarch  was  marked  by  want  of  decision  and  consistency,  forced  upon 
him,  perhaps,  by  influences  which  he  could  not  control.  He  ordered 
parents  to  take  their  sons  from  the  seminary.  They  obeyed,  and  sent 
them  back  in  a  few  days.  He  forbade  the  mission  bookseller  to  sell 
the  Smyrna  publications ;  but  learning  that  he  had  a  quantity  on  hand, 
which  he  must  sell  or  suffer  loss,  told  him  that  when  he  had  sold  them, 
he  must  not  procure  any  more.  A  part  of  the  Armenians  at  Nicomedia 
threatened  to  become  papists ;  because  they  said  their  own  church 
was  as  corrupt  as  that  of  Rome,  while  it  afforded  less  satisfactory  pro- 
tection. The  Patriarch  sent  one  of  the  pious  priests  to  reclaim  ihem. 
The  priest  was  successful  with  all  except  two,  whom  he  left  undecided. 
The  Patriarch's  task,  this  year,  was  indeed  a  hard  one.  The  people 
asserted  that  the  bankers  had  misapplied  the  funds  raised  for  the  na- 
tional college  at  Scutary ;  and  the  dispute  went  on,  and  brought  up 
other  topics  of  contention,  till  they  resolved  to  be  governed  by  the  bank- 
ers no  longer.  They  appointed  a  council  of  twenty-four,  one  from 
each  department  of  business,  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  The 
Patriarch,  by  order  of  the  bankers,  complained  of  the  members  of  the 
council  to  the  Porte,  and  they  were  thrown  into  prison.  Thousands  of 
the  people  rushed  to  the  Porte  and  demanded  their  release,  saying  that 
these  men  were  only  their  agents,  and  that  they  would  be  no  longer 


1841.]  TURKEY.      THE   NESTORIANS.  437 

subject  to  the  Patriarch  and  the  bankers.  The  Grand  Vizier  told  them 
to  name  any  of  their  bishops  as  Patriarch,  and  he  should  immediately 
be  installed.  The  people  refused,  exclaimincr  that  their  bishops  were 
all  bad  men;  that  Stephen  had  been  chosen  Patriarch,  because  he  was 
thought  to  be  the  best  man  among  them,  and  he  had  proved  to  be  only 
an  oppressive  tool  of  the  bankers.  The  Porte  finally  ordered  the  bank- 
ers to  make  peace  with  the  people  ;  and  to  make  peace,  they  were 
obliged  to  consent  that  the  civil  atlairs  of  the  nation  should  be  managed 
by  twenty-seven  men,  chosen  by  the  people,  and  that  a  new  Patriarch 
should  be  chosen,  who  should  have  authority  only  in  matters  purely 
spiritual.  These  terms  were  ratified  by  the  Porte.  Its  influence  on 
religion,  if  it  lasts,  remains  to  be  seen. 

Even  in  the  college  at  Scutary,  there  was  a  remembrancer  of  the 
mission.  The  college  had  bought  the  press,  which  was  originally  sent 
out  for  the  Nestorian  mission,  and  which  it  proved  impracticable  to 
transport  across  the  mountains.  There  it  stood,  with  its  maker's  name 
and  residence  upon  it,  eliciting  occasionally  the  sarcastic  remark,  that 
for  every  thing  good  they  were  dependent  on  the  Americans. 

On  the  6th  of  November,  Mr.  Goodell  completed  the  translation  of 
the  Old  Testament  into  tlie  Armeno-Turkish  ;  that  is,  the  Turkish  lan- 
guage, in  the  Armenian  alphabet ;  the  common  language  of  all  Arme- 
nians who  can  read.  The  printing  was  already  far  advanced.  The 
New  Testament  had  previously  been  printed,  and  the  demand  was  ur- 
gent for  a  new  edition. 

Mr.  Homes,  with  his  wife,  sailed  from  Boston  on  his  return,  May  27. 
After  his  arrival,  he  was  temporarily  transferred  to  Broosa,  to  take  the 
placeof  Mr.  Powers,  whose  wife's  health  obliged  him  to  visit  the  United 
States.     Mrs  Powers  survived  her  return  but  a  few  months. 

The  mission  at  Ooroomiah,  in  February,  had  seventeen  M\.,o,.,,o,h, 
schools,  in  sixteen  villages,  taught  by  eighteen  priests  and  _  n-^'""""-- 
sixteen  deacons;  a  feuiale  boarding  school,  taught  by  a  priest  and  a 
deacon,  assisted  by  the  ladies  of  the  mission ;  and  a  seminary,  taught 
by  two  deacons  from  the  mountains,  who  were  among  the  best  scholars 
in  the  nation ;  all  containing  476  learners,  under  the  superintendence 
of  Mr.  Stocking.  Applications  had  been  received  for  schools  in  eight 
other  places,  and  one  of  them  was  soon  to  be  opened.  Education  had 
made  such  progress,  that  the  qualifications  for  admission  to  the  Seminary 
were  raised,  the  primary  department  excluded,  and  the  course  of  study 
enlarged.  The  science  of  decimal  arithmetic,  hitherto  unknown  to  the 
Nesto^'ians,  was  introduced.  Numbers  had  been  expressed  by  all  the 
letters  of  the  alphabet,  much  after  the  ancient  Greek  method.  The 
Arabic  numerals  are  not  easily  made  by  the  Nestorian  pen.  Mr.  Stock- 
ing therefore  adopted  the  first  nine  letters  for  the  nine  digits,  and  a  dash 
for  the  cipher. 

The  demand  for  preaching  increased,  so  that  it  was  found  advisable 
to  ordain  Mr.  Stocking.  The  services  were  performed,  June  19,  in  the 
Nestorian  church,  which  they  call  St.  Mary's,  and  which  they  say  was 


438  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1841, 

built  by  the  "  wise  men  from  the  east,"  who  visited  the  infant  Savior 
at  Bethlehem.  At  the  close  of  the  exercise,  a  large  Nestorian  audience 
acknowledged  the  validity  of  the  ordination  by  kissing  Mr.  Stocking's 
hand,  and  the  venerable  Mar  Elias  by  kissing  his  head. 

Some  of  the  Nestorian  clergy  connected  with  the  mission  had  been 
much  annoyed  and  oppressed  by  the  local  Persian  authorities,  at  the 
instigation  of  certain  well  known  papists,  who  had  contrived  to  gain 
an  influence  over  them.  The  facts  were  stated  to  the  king  by  Dr. 
Riach,  of  the  English  embassy.  The  king  addressed  a  firman  to  the 
prince  governor,  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  evil. 

Mr.  Perkins  was  obliged  to  leave  Ooroomiah,  July  5,  for  the  United 
States,  for  the  restoration  of  his  wife's  health.  He  was  accompanied 
by  the  bishop  Mar  Yohanna,  who  had  resolved  to  visit  foreign  countries, 
and  who  travelled  at  his  own  expense.  They  arrived  at  New  York, 
January  11,  1842. 

i.,depe„deat  The  Rbv.  Abcl  K.  Hinsdale  and  Rev.  Colby  C.  Mitch- 

^ie.iuriaus.  g]j  ^^^^  ^j^g-^.  ^[y^^  gallcd  froffl  Boston,  January  18,  to 

commence  a  station  at  Mosul,  from  which  it  would  be  easy  to  reach 
the  Independent  Nestorians.  After  touching  at  Smyrna,  March  2,  they 
arrived  at  Beirut,  March  12.  April  22,  they  proceeded  to  Aleppo, 
Mr.  Beadle's  station,  where  Mr.  Mitchell  had  a  slight  attack  of  fever 
and  ague.  They  left  Aleppo  May  28,  in  company  with  Mr.  Kotschy, 
a  German  naturalist.  After  passing  Mardin,  June  19,  they  were  over- 
taken by  a  shower,  after  which  Mr.  Mitchell's  chills  returned.  On  the 
26th,  they  were  obliged  to  stop  at  Mustafia,  a  small  Koordish  village, 
where  he  died  the  next  morning.  His  remains  were  carried  to  Telabel, 
a  Syrian  village  three  or  four  hours  from  Jezireh.  Three  days  after- 
wards, Mrs.  Mitchell  was  taken  ill,  at  another  Koordish  village,  where 
they  remained  four  days,  when  she  was  well  enough  to  be  carried  in  a 
palankeen  to  Mosul.  Two  or  three  days  after  her  arrival,  her  disease 
returned  in  a  new  form,  and  in  two  days  more  she  was  numbered  with 
the  dead.  It  has  not  yet  been  possible  to  trace  these  afflictive  events 
to  any  error,  either  in  the  missionaries  or  in  their  instructions. 

Dr.  Grant  sailed  from  Boston,  April  1,  to  return  to  his  field  of  labor 
by  way  of  England,  and  hoping  to  overtake  Messrs.  Mitchell  and 
Hinsdale  at  Aleppo,  He  however  found  it  necessary  to  proceed  by 
way  of  Constantinople,  Trebizond,  Erzeroom  and  Van,  to  the  Patri- 
arch's residence,  where  he  arrived  July  9.  The  Patriarch's  residence 
is  near  the  northeastern  extremity  of  the  country,  where  the  road  from 
Ooroomiah  enters  it,  in  the  district  of  Diss.  The  day  after  he  arrived, 
Dr.  Grant  set  out,  accompanied  by  the  Patriarch  and  his  brother,  priest 
Zadok,  to  survey  the  country,  and  select  stations  for  missionary  labor. 
Travelling  south,  they  spent  l^ve  days  in  visiting  the  districts  of  Diss 
and  Jelu.  The  Patriarch  then  returned.  Dr.  Grant  and  Zadok  went 
on  towards  the  west,  through  Bass  and  Tehoma,  and  then  northward 
into  Tiyary,  where  he  had  formerly  travelled.  He  found  intercourse  be- 
tween the  different  settlements  so  difficult,  that  a  station  in  one  could 


1841.]  PERSIA.      SYRIA   AND   PALESTINE.  439 

exert  but  little  direct  influence  on  another ;  and  all  were  anxious  to 
have  missionaries  among  them  without  delay.     The  result  was,  that  a 
large  reinforcement  was  immediately  needed.     In  about  six  weeks  he 
had  completed  his  survey  of  the  country,  and  was  returning  to  the  Pa- 
triarch's residence,  intending  to  lead  his  associates  into  the  country  be- 
fore winter.     The  attempt  could  not  be  made  immediately,  because  the 
Hakary  Koords  on  the  north,  and  the  Turks  and  other  Koords  on  the 
west,  were  threatening  war,  and  travelling  was  unsafe.     In  this  state 
of  affairs,  information  reached  him  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mitchell   were 
dead,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hinsdale  dangerously  sick  at  Mosul.     He  re- 
solved to  visit  Mosul  immediately.     The  Nestorians  remonstrated,  on 
account  of  the  danger.     At  length  the  malek  of  Lezan  gave  him  an 
escort,  to  conduct  him  by  night  to  the  borders  of  Amadieh,  where  they 
left  him  with  a  single  Koorchsh  attendant.     A  powerful  tribe  of  pre- 
datory Arabs  were  ravaging  the  country  between  Amadieh  and  Mosul. 
By   leaving  the  direct  road  and  making  careful  inquiries,  he  avoided 
encountering  them,  and  reached  Mosul  in  safety,  August  25.     He  found 
Mr.  Hinsdale  dangerously  sick,  but  after  several  days  of  solicitous  at- 
tendance, was  enabled  to  pronounce  him  convalescent.     It  was  certain, 
however,  that  he  could  take  no  assistant  into  the  mountains  till  the  next 
spring.     Meanwhile,  the  papists,  through  their  Chaldean  bishop  of  El 
Koosh,  who  promised  them  temporal  advantages  through  the  French 
consul  general   at  Bagdad,  were  making  strenuous  efforts  to  gain  the 
Nestorians  to  their  own  party.     October  9,  the  Pasha  of  Mosul  in- 
formed Dr.  Grant,  that  a  united  Turkish  and  Koordish  army  from  Van 
had  subdued  the  Nestorians,  and  burned   the  Patriarch's  hou?e.     The 
news  of  the  invasion  and  the  burning  was  afterwards  confirmed ;  but 
the  subjugation  of  the  tribes  was  by  no  means  completed,  and  the  war 
continued. 

The  Prudential  Committee  resolved,  Aupfust  10,  that         ...      .   , 

'  r"  '  Mis.ion  10  the 

the  station  at  Tabriz  be  discontmued,  and  Mr.   Merrick        ''"«■«"!■.■ 
authorized  to  join  the  station  at  Ooroomiah.     He  had  made  the  inves- 
tigations for  which  he  was  sent  to  Tabriz,  and  the  result  was,  that  a 
mission  to  the  Persians  could  not  be  commenced  with  reasonable  hopes 
of  success. 

Mr.  George  C.  Hurter,  with  his  wife,  sailed  from  Bos-  -"yria  ond  Pniesiine. 
ton,  January  18,  to  take  charge  of  the  printing  at  BeirOt.  He  had  been 
instructed  in  the  new  art  of  cerography,  by  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Morse, 
the  inventor.*  Under  his  management,  the  press  resumed  its  operations 
in  July.  The  new  Arabic  type  answered  all  expectations.  Mr.  Smith 
sailed  from  Boston,  with  his  wife,  on  his  return  to  Beirut,  on  the  27lh 
of  April.  Messrs.  Beadle,  Keyes,  L.  Thompson  and  Van  Dyck  returned 
from  Jerusalem  in  January,  In  April,  Mr.  Beadle,  with  a  native  as- 
sistant, commenced  a  station  at  Aleppo.  There  was  at  first  a  violent 
opposition  fiom  the  papists,  who  endeavored  to  prevent  him  from  hiring 

♦  Mr.  Breath,  of  the  Nestorian  mission,  had  received  the  same  favor. 


440  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1841. 

a  house.  Their  efforts  were  ineffectual,  and  the  station  commenced 
with  encouraging  prospects.  Mr.  Wolcott  visited  Damascus  early  in 
May,  and  having  made  the  necessary  arrangements  for  residing  there, 
returned  to  Beirut  for  his  family  ;  but  unexpected  events  detained 
him.  Mr.  Hebard,  whose  health  compelled  him  to  suspend  missionary 
labors,  died  at  Malta,  June  30,  on  his  way  to  England  and  the  United 
States. 

The  four  allied  powers,  the  last  year,  had  settled  the  affairs  of  the 
East  in  a  mode  very  adverse  to  the  interests  and  wishes  of  France,  and 
of  her  ally,  the  viceroy  of  Egypt ;  and  political  journalists  asserted  that 
France  was  engaged  in  a  deep  plot  for  breaking  up  the  arrangement, 
by  throwing  Syria  into  such  violent  commotion  that  the  Sultan  would 
be  unable  to  preserve  the  public  peace,  which  would  make  it  necessary 
to  place  the  country  again  under  the  more  vigorous  government  of  Me- 
hemet  Aly.  In  January,  three  Jesuits  arrived  at  Beirut,  from  France, 
well  supplied  with  money,  and  proposed  to  establish  a  splendid  school. 
About  the  same  lime,  the  Maronite  Patriarch  received  large  sums  from 
France  and  Austria,  ostensibly  given  for  the  relief  of  sufferers  in  the 
late  war  ;  but  which  he  was  never  known  to  expend  for  any  such  pur- 
pose. 

During  the  war  last  year,  the  insurrection  in  favor  of  the  Sultan 
and  the  English  had  been  piincipally  among  the  Maronites.  The 
agent  through  whom  the  English  government  negotiated  with  them, 
was  a  Roman  Catholic.  The  old  Emir  Beshir,  whose  home  was  in  the 
Druze  district,  and  who  had  his  army  there,  kept  the  great  body  of 
the  Druzes  in  subjection.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  English  were  in 
alliance  with  a  Roman  Catholic  prelate,  a  devoted  tool  of  France,  and 
were  fighting  against  the  people  who  were  most  inclined  to  Protestant- 
ism, and  to  alliance  with  Protestant  nations.  For  their  services  in  that 
war,  the  Maronites  stood  high  in  favor  with  the  English  ofhcers  in  Sy- 
ria, and  with  the  Turkish  government,  from  whom  the  Patriarch  receiv- 
ed important  additions  to  his  power.  At  the  beginning  of  this  year,  he 
felt  strong  enough  to  attempt  two  favorite  objects  ;  to  expel  the  Ame- 
rican mission,  and  to  crush  the  Druzes,  who  were  disposed  to  receive 
their  instruction. 

Early  in  the  winter,  he  ordered  some  of  the  local  authorities  to  drive 
the  missionaries  out  of  the  country ;  but  was  informed,  in  reply,  that 
they  had  no  authority  to  do  it.  He  then  sent  a  petition  to  the  Sultan, 
requesting  their  expulsion,  as  they  were  endangering  the  peace  of  the 
country,  by  making  proselytes.  The  Sultan  laid  the  subject  before  the 
American  ambassador,  who  acknowledged  that  he  had  no  author  ty 
from  his  government,  to  protect  men  thus  employed.  For  the  present, 
however,  he  only  sent  the  documents  to  the  American  consul  at  Beir  t, 
that  there  might  be  an  investigation  of  the  charges.  A  copy  of  his 
answer  to  the  Sultan,  or  an  account  of  its  contents,  in  some  way  reach- 
ed the  hands  of  the  Patriarch,  who  immediately  proclaimed  throughout 
the  mountains,  that  the  missionaries  were  denounced  by  their  own  gov- 


1841.]  SYRIA    ANU   PALES'nM;.  441 

ernment  as  troublesome,  mischief-making  proselyters,  who  would  not  be 
protected.* 

Meanwhile,  the  Druzes  were  renewing  their  calls  for  instruction.  In 
April,  a  Druze  sheikh  from  the  Hauran  petitioned  for  a  school  in  his 
neighborhood,  and  calls  were  numerous  for  the  mission  to  extend  its 
operations  among  them.  The  British  officers  at  Beirut,  who  often 
heard  the  missionaries  preach  at  the  American  consulate,  and  to  whom 
they  were  under  many  obligations,  were  aware  of  this  constant  and 
friendly  intercourse  between  the  missionaries  and  the  Druzes,  whom  they 
regarded  as  the  worst  enemies  of  the  English,  and  of  their  supposed 
friends,  the  Maronites.  Mr.  Thomson  was  compelled  to  explain  the 
mystery,  by  stating  the  true  character  and  relations  of  the  several  par- 
ties. Their  sagacity  at  once  detected  the  political  bearings  of  the  whole 
subject.  They  saw  that  it  was  for  the  interest  of  England,  that  the 
Druzes  should  become  Protestants.  They  encouraged  them  to  receive 
schools  and  instruction.  They  virtually  compelled  Mr.  Thomson  to 
visit  the  principal  Druze  sheikhs,  to  consult  on  more  extended  opera- 
tions. The  sheikhs  themselves  were  introduced  to  the  British  officers, 
and  had  free  consultations  with  them.  A  despatch  was  sent  to  England, 
containing  an  account  of  these  proceedings,  and  an  answer  was  returned. 
It  might  be  difficult  to  prove,  that  the  faith  of  the  British  nation  was 
pledged,  by  any  person  or  persons  authorized  to  pledge  it,  to  protect 
the  Druzes,  in  "their  chosen  course  of  becoming  Protestant  Christians, 
and  putting  themselves,  for  that  purpose,  under  the  instruction  of  the 
American  mission  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  Druze  sheikhs  confidently 
expected  such  support;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  some  at 
least  of  the  British  officers  at  Beirut  were  honestly  and  zealously  in 
favor  of  such  an  arrangement.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  made  hberal 
offers  of  pecuniary  assistance,  should  it  be  necessary,  in  executing  it. 
With  such  expectations,  they  made  a  definite  agreement  with  the  mis- 
sion, that  a  school  for  the  sons  of  the  sheikhs  should  be  immediately 
established  at  Deir  el  Kamar,  and  other  schools  as  fast  as  practicable  in 
their  other  villages,  and  that  the  missionaries  should  be  welcomed  as 
religious  teachers  among  all  their  people. 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  Mr.  Wolcott  and  Dr.  Van  Dyck  removed  to 
Deir  el  Kamar,  and  opened  a  school  for  the  sons  of  the  sheikhs  on  the 
3d  of  August.  Mr.  Thomson  removed  to  'Ain  'Anftb,  to  superintend 
the  schools  for  the  common  people,  of  which  three  were  soon  opened  in 
the  vicinity.  Mr.  Smith  on  arriving  at  Beirut,  did  not  stop  even  to  open 
his  house,  but  went  at  once  to  the  mountains.  He  joined  the  brethren 
at  Deir  el  Kamar.     The  Patriarch,  who  had  been  strengthening  himself 

*  Commodore  Porter  seems  to  have  thought  that  his  instructions  authoriz- 
ed him  to  protect  only  Americans  who  wore  in  the  Turkish  Empire  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  stipulations  of  the  commercial  treaty  hctwcen  that  government 
and  the  United  States.  He  has  since  received  most  explicit  instructions,  pre- 
pared by  the  Secretary  of  State  by  order  of  the  President,  to  extend  effectual 
protection  to  American  missionaries. 

56 


442  HISTORY   OF    THE   AMERICAN    BOARD.  [1841. 

all  this  time,  now  put  forth  his  energies  anew.  He  fulminated  his  ex- 
communications, and  even  ordered  the  people  to  rise  against  the  mis- 
sionaries and  stone  them  out  of  their  villages.  By  his  command,  the 
Emir  Beshir  ordered  the  Druze  sheikhs  to  stop  the  schools,  and  they 
ordered  parents  to  take  away  their  children  -,  but  this  order,  pubhcly 
issued,  was  privately  countermanded,  and  disobeyed.  Meanwhile,  op- 
pressive taxes  were  laid,  and  other  measures  adopted  for  the  purpose  of 
provoking  insurrection.  An  outbreak  had  already  been  resolved  upon 
by  the  Druzes  of  the  Houran ;  but  the  sheikhs  of  Lebanon  persuaded 
them  to  abandon  it,  lest  it  should  defeat  their  plans  for  establishing 
schools.  Local  aggressions,  however,  frequently  provoked  resistance, 
in  which  blood  was  shed.  It  was  well  understood  that  the  Patriarch 
was  the  actual  ruler  of  the  mountains,  and  that  he  w^as  resolved  to  bring 
on  a  war  with  the  Druzes,  crush  their  power,  and  expel  the  missionaries. 
It  was  probably  about  this  time,  that  the  French  consul  wrote  to  the 
Emir  Beshir,  urging  him  to  stop  these  schools. 

Some  time  in  August,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gobat,  a  German,  in  the  service 
of  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society,  arrived  from  Malta.  He  had 
long  been  known  as  a  laborer  in  Egypt  and  Abyssinia,  and  was  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  the  older  members  of  the  mission.  His  object  was,  to 
make  an  arrangement  by  which  evangelical  missionaries  of  the  English 
church  could  share  in  the  labor  of  converting  the  Druzes.  About°the 
10th  of  September,  the  despatches  from  Lord  Palmerston,  already  allu- 
ded to,  arrived.  It  was  commonly  reported,  that  they  contained  a  pos- 
itive confirmation  of  the  arrangement  entered  into  through  the  agency 
of  Mr.  Thomson,  and  an  order  to  take  the  Druzes  at  once  publicly 
under  British  protection.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Nicholayson,  formerly  a  mem- 
ber of  the  mission  church  at  Beirut,  then  a  Baptist,  and  now  a  zealous 
high-churchman,  arrived  from  England  at  the  same  time,  with  instruc- 
tions, it  was  said,  to  assist  in  carrying  out  that  arrangement.  He  and 
Mr.  Gobat  soon  had  an  interview,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  their 
plans  into  harmony  with  each  other ;  but  they  differed  with  respect  to 
the  proper  treatment  of  the  American  missionaries.  This  led  them  into 
a  theological  debate  on  the  principle  of  "  apostolical  succession,"  and 
there  the  matter  ended. 

The  Druzes,  in  imminent  danger  of  war,  were  anxious  to  be  defi- 
nitely informed  what  support  they  might  expect  from  England  ;  but  the 
British  commander,  for  some  reason  that  cannot  here  be  assigned,  was 
spending  the  summer  in  Kesrawan,  among  the  Maronites.  They  inquired 
of  Mr.  Nicholayson,  and  of  others.  The  answers  which  they  received  led 
them  to  the  conclusion,  that  England  would  afford  them  no  protection, 
unless  they  would  renounce  the  American  missionaries,  and  put  them- 
selves under  the  instruction  of  clergymen  of  the  English  Episcopal 
Church.  This  they  hesitated  to  do.  But,  as  Deir  el  Kamar,  though  in 
the  Druze  district,  was  the  seat  of  government  for  all  Lebanon,  and  had 
a  large  majority  of  Maronite  inhabitants,  it  was  thought  advisable  to 
close  the  school  there  in  September. 


1841.]  SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  443 

The  Patriarch  now  thought  himself  prepared  to  strike  the  decisive 
blow.  The  sheikhs  of  all  parties  were  ordered  to  assemble  at  Deir  el 
Karaar,  some  time  in  the  second  week  in  October,  to  settle  the  affairs  of 
the  mountains,  and  especially  to  make  arrangements  for  collecting  a 
tax,  the  collection  of  which,  every  body  knew,  would  be  resisted  by  all 
parties.  By  beginning  the  collection  in  the  Druze  district,  the  resist- 
ance would  be  made  to  commence  among  the  Druzes,  and  then  they 
could  be  stigmatized  as  the  authors  of  a  rebellion.  All  parties  expected 
a  collision,  and  came  armed,  with  their  followers.  The  Druze  sheikhs, 
as  they  approached  the  city,  were  ordered  to  send  away  their  followers, 
and  enter  unarmed.  They  refused.  A  battle  ensued,  the  Maronites 
were  defeated,  and  their  prince  was  besieged  in  his  castle.  The  Patri- 
arch immediately  proclaimed  a  crusade  against  "  the  infidels,"  ordered 
his  bishops  to  take  arms,  and  marched  his  forces  towards  the  Druze 
district ;  but  the  Druzes  had  seized  the  mountain  passes,  and  defeated 
every  attempt  to  enter  their  territory.  They  then  went  deliberately,  or 
rather  desperately,  to  work,  to  exterminate  or  expel  every  Maronite 
from  their  part  of  the  mountains.  In  about  a  month,  the  work  was 
done.  Not  a  convent,  and  scarce  a  village  or  hamlet,  which  had  be- 
longed to  the  Maronites,  was  left  standing.  They  then  descended  from 
the  mountains,  dispersed  the  main  army  of  the  Maronites,  and  were 
ready  to  march  northward  into  Kesrawan,  and  attack  the  Patriarch  in 
his  nest ;  and  a  French  corvette  left  the  harbor  of  Beirut  and  stood  ofT 
the  coast  opposite  to  his  residence,  for  the  purpose,  as  was  supposed,  of 
aiding  his  escape.  Some  of  the  British  officers,  however,  persuaded  the 
Druzes  to  suspend  their  march  ;  but  the  Patriarch's  power  was  effectu- 
ally broken,  by  a  people  not  more  than  half  so  numerous  as  his  own. 
Thousands  of  the  Maronites  cursed  him  for  bringing  ruin  upon  them- 
selves and  their  families,  by  making  war  on  the  Druzes  to  prevent  their 
having  Protestant  schools.  As  soon  as  the  war  was  ended,  a  Turkish 
army  took  the  field  to  separate  the  combatants,  and  preserve  the  peace 
of  the  country. 

Mr.  Thomson's  three  schools  had  been  broken  up  by  the  war  ;  but 
before  the  end  of  the  year,  all  the  four  Druze  schools  were  reopened, 
petitions  were  received  for  four  or  five  others,  and  the  mission  was  in 
correspondence  with  nearly  all  the  Druze  sheikhs.  A  sheikh  of  the 
Metawileh,  also,  on  the  mountains  northeast  from  Sidon,  petitioned  for 
a  school.  The  Maronites  sought  intercourse  with  the  mission.  The 
chiefs  of  one  of  their  largest  villages  applied  for  a  school.  They  said 
they  were  no  longer  afraid  of  the  Patriarch,  they  wanted  schools,  and 
were  determined  to  have  them. 

Thus  closed  the  year  1841.  The  history  of  the  next  wnll  doubtless 
be  a  history  of  other  and  unexpected  changes. 

After  a  few  words  concerning  the  mission  at  the  Sand-  sandwich  i.i.>ui.. 
wich  Islands,  this  history  must  pause,  till  the  events  of  future  years  shall 
furnish  materials  for  its  continuance. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  the  admissions  within  twelvemonths 


444  HISTORY   OF   THE   AMERICAN   BOARD.  [1841. 

had  been  1473  ;  from  the  commencement  of  the  mission,  22,806.  Of  this 
last  number,  1485  had  died;  1892  were  under  suspension  from  commun- 
ion; 2561  had  been  excommunicated  and  not  restored;  and  16,893 
were  in  regular  standing.  The  number  under  censure  shows, — what  is 
abundantly  proved  by  other  evidence, — that  discipline  was  remarkably 
strict ;  and  the  existence  of  16,893  church  members,  whose  lives  were 
such  that  such  strict  discipline  did  not  reach  them,  shows  that  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  gospel  had  been  wonderful.  Of  the  2561  excommunica- 
ted, 2123  were  from  the  church  at  Waimea,  on  Hawaii,  in  which  there 
were  still  1977  members  in  regular  standing.  The  excommunicated 
from  all  the  other  churches  were  but  438.  Of  those  under  sentence  of 
suspension,  600  were  from  the  same  church,  553  from  that  at  Hilo,  and 
403  from  that  at  Kohala.  That  is,  there  were  1556  from  three  con- 
tiguous churches  on  Hawaii,  and  935  from  all  the  others.  The  church 
at  Hilo  contained  6402  members  in  regular  standing.  Doubtless,  there 
was  more  chaff  still  to  be  winnowed  out  from  the  harvest  of  the  great 
revival ;  but  such  results  as  these  could  not  have  remained  so  long,  had 
not  that  revival  been  a  glorious  work  of  the  grace  of  God. 

Protracted  meetings  were  held  at  most  of  the  stations  during  the 
winter,  with  good  results ;  and  in  the  autumn,  187  persons  stood  pro- 
pounded for  admission  to  the  second  church  in  Honolulu. 


APPENDIX 


A. 
ACT  OF  INCORPORATION. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twelve  :  An  Act  to  incorporate  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

Whereas  William  Bartlet  and  others  have  been  associated  under  the 
name  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  for  the 
purpose  of  propagating  the  gospel  in  heathen  lands,  by  supporting  mission- 
aries and  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  have  prayed  to  be 
incorporated  in  order  more  effectually  to  promote  the  laudable  object  of  their 
association. 

Sec.  L  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General 
Court  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  nf  the  same,  That  William  Bartlet,  Esq., 
and  Samuel  Spring,  D.  D.,  both  of  Nevvburyport,  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  of 
Hatfield,  Jedidiah  Morse,  D.  D..  ofCharlestovvn,  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D., 
of  Salem,  the  Hon.  William  Phillips,  Esq.  of  Boston,  and  the  Hon.  John 
Hooker,  Esq.,  of  Springfield,  and  their  associates,  be,  and  they  hereby  are 
incorporated  and  made  a  body  politic  by  the  name  of  the  AMERICAN 
BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS,  and  by 
that  name  may  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and  be  impleaded,  appear,  prosecute, 
and  defend,  to  final  judgment  and  execution ;  and  in  their  said  corporate 
capacity,  they,  and  their  successors  forever,  may  take,  receive,  have  and  hold 
in  fee-simple  or  otherwise,  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments,  by  gift,  grant, 
devise,  or  otherwise,  not  exceeding  the  yearly  value  of  four  thousand  dollars  ; 
and  may  also  take  and  hold  by  donation,  bequest,  or  otherwise,  personal 
estate  to  an  amount,  the  yearly  income  of  which  shall  not  exceed  eight 
thousand  dollars ;  so  that  the  estate  aforesaid  shall  be  faithfully  appropriated 
to  the  purpose  and  object  aforesaid,  and  not  otherwise.  And  the  said  cor- 
poration shall  have  power  to  sell,  convey,  exchange,  or  lease  all  or  any  part  of 
their  lands,  tenements,  or  other  property  for  the  benefit  of  their  funds,  and 
may  have  a  common  seal  which  they  may  alter  or  renew  at  pleasure.  Pro- 
vided,  however,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  enable  the  said  corporation, 
or  any  personor  persons,  as  trustees  for  or  for  the  use  of  said  corporation,  to 
receive  and  hold  any  gift,  grant,  legacy,  or  bequest,  heretofore  given  or 
bequeathed  to  any  person  in  trust  for  said  Board,  unless  such  person  or  per- 
sons, could  by  law  have  taken  and  holden  the  same,  if  this  act  had  not 
passed. 

Sec.  2.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Board  may  annually  choose 
from  among  themselves,  by  ballot,  a  President,  a  Vice  President,  and  a  Pru- 
dential Committee ;  and,  also,  from  among  themselves  or  others  a  Corres- 
ponding Secretary,  a  Recording  Secretary,  a  Treasurer,  an  Auditor,  and  such 
other  officers  as  they  may  deem  expedient ;  all  of  whom  shall  hold  their  offices 
until  others  are  chosen  to  succeed  them,  and  shall  have  such  powers  and 
perform  such  duties  as  the  said  Board  may  order  and  direct ;  and  in  case  oi 
vacancy  by  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise,  the  vacancy  may  in  like  manner 


446  APPENDIX. 


be  filled  at  any  legal  meeting  of  the  said  Board.  And  the  said  Treasurer 
shall  give  bond  with  sufficient  surety,  or  sureties,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
Board,  or  the  Prudential  Committee,  for,  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
his  office. 

Sec.  3.  Be  it  further  enacted^  That  all  contracts,  and  deeds,  which  the 
said  Board  may  lawfully  make  and  execute,  signed  by  ihe  chairman  of  the 
said  Prudential  Committee,  and  countersigned  by  their  clerk,  (whom  they  are 
hereby  authorized  to  appoint,)  and  sealed  with  the  common  seal  of  said  cor- 
poration, shall  be  valid  in  law  to  all  intents  and  purposes. 

Sec.  4.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  said 
Board  shall  be  on  the  third  Wednesday  of  September  next,  at  such  place  as 
the  said  William  Bartlet  may  appoint,  and  the  present  officers  of  said  Board 
shall  continue  in  office  until  others  are  elected. 

Sec.  5.  Be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  said  Board,  at  the  first  annual 
meeting  aforesaid,  and  at  any  subsequent  annual  meeting,  may  elect  by  bal- 
lot, any  suitable  persons  to  be  members  of  said  Board,  either  to  supply 
vacancies,  or  in  addition  to  their  present  number. 

Sec.  6.  Be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  said  Board  shall  have  power  to 
make  such  by-laws,  rules,  and  regulations,  for  calling  future  meetings  of  said 
Board,  and  for  the  management  of  their  concerns,  as  they  shall  deem  expe- 
dient ;  provided  the  same  are  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth. 

Sec.  7.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  one  quarter  part  of  the  annual  income 
from  the  funds  of  said  Board  shall  be  faithfully  appropriated  to  defray  the 
expense  of  imparting  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  unevangelized  nations  in  their 
own  languages  :  Provided,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  defeat  the  express  intentions  of  any  testator  or  donor,  who 
shall  give  or  bequeath  money  to  promote  the  great  purposes  of  the  Board. 
Provided,  also,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
restrict  said  Board  from  appropriating  more  than  one  quarter  of  said  income 
to  translating  and  distributing  the  Scriptures  whenever  they  shall  deem  it 
advisable. 

Sec.  8.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  not  less  than  one  third  of  said  Board 
shall  at  all  times  be  composed  of  respectable  laymen:  and  that  not  less  than 
one  third  of  said  Board  shall  be  composed  of  respectable  clergyn)en ;  the 
remaining  third  to  be  composed  of  characters  of  the  same  description  whether 
clergymen  or  laymen. 

Sec.  9.  Be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Legislature  of  this  Commonwealth 
shall  at  any  time  have  the  right  to  inspect,  by  a  Committee  of  their  own  body, 
the  doings,  funds,  and  proceedings  of  the  said  Corporation,  and  may  at  their 
pleasure  alter  or  annul  any  or  all  of  the  powers  herein  granted. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  June  \^th,  1812. — This  bill  having  had  three 
several  readings,  passed  to  be  enacted.     TllVIOTHY  BIGELOW,  Speaker. 

In  the  Senate,  June  20th,  1812.  This  bill  having  had  two  readings,  passed 
to  be  enacted.  SAMUEL  DANA,  President. 

June  20th,  1812.— By  the  Governor,  Approved.         CALEB  STRONG. 
Copy— Attest,        ALDEN  BRADFORD, 

Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth. 

N.  B. — The  Associates,  alluded  to  in  the  foregoing  act,  were  the  Hon. 
John  Treadwell,  LL.  D.,  the  Rev.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D.  LL.  D.,  Pres- 
ident of  Yale  College,  Gen.  Jedidiah  Huntington,  and  the  Rev.  Calvin 
Chapin.  all  of  Connecticut. 


APPENDIX. 


447 


B. 


CORPORATE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  BOARD. 


Fr.io:.'         MAINE.  1826 

1813.  Gen.  Henry  Sewall,  Aucrusta. 

1832.  Enoch  Pond.  D.  D.   Proiessor  1827 

in    the    Theol.  Seminary  at  1S28 

Bangor.  1S32. 

1836.  Levi  Cutter,  Esq.  Portland.  1832. 

1838.  Benjamin    Tappan,  D.  D.  Au-  1832. 

gusta.  1832. 

1838.  Rev.     John    VV.    EHintywood,  1835. 

Bath.  1835. 

NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

1832.  Nathan  Lord,  D.  D.  President     1837. 
of     Dartmouth     Col.     Hano- 
ver. 1838. 

1838.  Hon.    Samuel    Fletcher,    Con- 
cord. 1838. 

1838.   Rev.   Aaron  Warner,  Profess- 
or   in    the  Theol.   Sem.  Gil-     1S39. 
manton.  1839. 

1840.  Hon.  Edmund  Parker,  Nashua. 

1840.  Rev.  Zedekiah  S.  Barstow,  1840. 
Keene. 

VERMONT.  1840. 

1818.  Hon.    Charles   Marsh,  Wood-     1840. 

stock. 

1821.  Joshua  Bates,  D.  D.  Presi-  1840. 
dent  of  Middlebury  Col-  1840. 
lege. 

1838.  John    Wheeler,    D.   D.    Presi-     1840. 
dent      of      the       University, 
Burlington.  1838. 

1838.  Rev.  Charles  Walker,  Brattle- 
borough.  1810. 

1840.  Edward    Hooker,  D.  D.    Ben- 
nington. 1817. 

1840.  William  Page,  Esq.,    Rutland 

1840.  Rev.   Willard  Child,  Pittsfield.     1819. 

.MASSAC  nCSETT.S. 

1819.  Leonard    Woods,    0.  D.    Pro-     1823. 

fessor   in    the    Theol.     Sem. 
Andover.  1832. 

1820.  William    Allen,  D.   D.    North- 

ampton. 1836. 

1821.  Samuel  Hubbard,  LL.  D.  Bos- 

ton. 

1823.  Heman  Humphrey,  D.  D.  Pre-  1836. 

sident  of  Amherst  College.  1838. 

1826.  John  Codman,  D.  D.  Dorches-  1838. 

ter. 

1826.  Hon.  Lewis  Strong,  Northamp-  1840. 

ton.  1840. 


Justin  Edwards,  D.  D.  Presi- 
den  of  Theol.  Sem.  Andover. 
.  John  Tappan,  Esq.  Boston. 

Henry  Hill,  Esq.  Boston. 

Samuel  T.  Armstrong,  Boston. 

Rufus  Anderson,  D.  D.  Boston. 

Rev.  David  Greene,  Boston. 

Charles  Stoddard,  Esq.  Boston. 

Daniel  Noyes,  Esq.  Boston. 

Rev.  Wm.  J.  Armstrong,  Bos- 
ton. 

Rev.  Nehemiah  Adams,  Bos- 
ton. 

Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.  Pres.  of 
Williams  Coll.  VVilliamstown. 

Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.  N.  Brook- 
field. 

Rev.  Silas  Aiken,  Boston. 

Rev.  Bela  B.  Edwards,  Profes- 
sor in  Theol.  Sem.  Andover. 

Daniel  Dana,  D.  D.  Newbury- 
port. 

William  Jenks,  D.  D.  Boston. 

Ebenczer  Alden,  xVl.  D.  Ran- 
dolph. 

Alfred  Ely  ,D.  D.  Monson. 

Rev.  Horation  Bardwell,  Ox- 
ford. 

Hon.  David  Mack,  Jr.  Amherst. 

RHODE   rSLAND. 

Mark  Tucker,  D.  D.  Providence. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Calvin  Chapin,  D.  D.  Wethers- 
field. 

Jeremiah  Day,  D.  D.  LL.  D. 
Pres.  of  Yafe  Coll.  N.  Haven. 

John  Cotton  Smith,  LL.  D. 
Sharon. 

Bennet  Tyler,  D.  D.  Professor 
in   Theol.  Inst.    E.   Windsor. 

Noah  Porter,  D.  D.  Farming- 
ton. 

Hon.  Thomas  S.  Williams, 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Slate, 
Hartford. 

Henry  Hudson.  Esq.  Hartford. 

JoelHaw.se,  D.  D.  Hartlbrd. 

Thomas  W.  Williams,  Esq. 
New  London. 

Daniel  Dow.  D.  D.  Thompson. 

Hon.  Seth  Terry,  Hartford. 


448 


APPENDIX. 


1840.  John  Norton,  Esq.  Farmington.     1840. 
1840.  Charles   Rockwell,   Esq.  Nor-     1840. 
wich. 

NEW  YORK.  1840. 

1812.  James  Richards,  D.  D.  Profes- 
sor in  Theol.  Sem.  Auburn.      1824. 

1812.  Eliphalet  Nott,  D.  D.  President 
of  Union  Coll.  Schenectady. 

1812.  Henry  Davis,  D.  D.  Clinton.  1826. 

1813.  Alexander  Proudfit,  D.  D.  New 

York  city.  1826. 

1823.  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.  N.  York 

city.  1832. 

1824.  David  Porter,  D.  D.  Catskill. 

1824.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.  D.  New     1888. 

York  city. 
1824.  Eleazar  Lord,  Esq.   Rockland     1840. 

County. 
1826.  Nathaniel  W.  Howell,  LL.  D. 

Canandaigua.  1812. 

1826.  Thomas  De  Witt,  D.  D.  New 

York  city.  1826. 

1826.  Nathan  S.   S.   Beman,  D.  D. 

Troy.  1826. 

1826.  Thomas  McAuley,  D.  D.  LL.  D. 

Pres.  of  the  Theol.  Sem.  N.  Y.     1826. 

city. 
1826.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  LL.     1826. 

D.  Chancellor  of  the  Univer- 
sity, New  York  city.  1832. 
1832.  Orrin  Day,  Esq.  Catskill. 
1834.  James  M.  Matthews,  D.  D.  New     1832. 

York  city. 
1836.  Rev.  Henry  Dwight,  Geneva.       1834. 
1838.  Isaac  Ferris,  D.  D.  New  York 

city.  1838. 

1838.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  D.  D.  Prof. 

in  Theol.  Sem.  New  York  city.      1838. 
1838.  Henry  White,  D.  D.  Prof,  in  the 

Theol.  Sem.  New  York  city.      1838. 
1838.  D.  W.  C.  Oliphant,  Esq.  New 

York  city.  1838. 

1838.  Richard  T.  Haines,  Esq.  New 

York  city.  1840. 

1838.  William  W.  Chester.  Esq.  New 

York  city.  1840. 

1838.  Pelatiah  Perit,  Esq.  New  York 

city.  1840. 

18:38.  Hon.  Joseph  Russell,  Troy.  1840. 

1838.  Elisha  Yale,  D.  D.  Kingsboro.     1840. 

1839.  Eliphalet  Wickes,  Esq.  Troy.        1840. 

1839.  Wm.  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.  Albany. 

1840.  Reuben  Hyde  Walworth,  LL.D. 

Saratoga  Springs.  1838. 

1840.  Rev.  Chauncey  Eddy,  Sara- 
toga Springs. 

1840.  Anson   G.   Phelps,   Esq.  New     1826. 
York  city. 


Hiram  W.Seelye,  Esq.  Geneva, 
David  H.  Little,  Esq.  Cherry 

Valley. 
Rev.  Deidrich  Willers,  Fayette. 

NEW    JERSEY. 

Philip  Milledoler,  D.  D.  Prof,  in 
the  Theol.  Sem.  New  Bruns- 
wick. 

Archibald  Alexander,  D.D.  Prof. 
in  the  Theol.  Sem.  Princeton. 

James  Carnahan,  D.  D.  Presi- 
dent of  NassauHall, Princeton. 

Hon.  Peter  D.  Vroom,  Somer- 
ville. 

Rev.  David  Magic,  Elizabeth- 
town. 

Hon.  Joseph  C.  Hornblower, 
Newark. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Ashbel  Green,  D.  D.  Philadel- 
phia. 

John  Ludlow,  D.  D.  Philadel- 
phia. 

Thomas  Bradford,  Jr.  Esq.  Phil- 
adelphia. 

Samuel  A  gnaw,  M.  D.  Harris- 
burgh. 

WiUiam  Neil,  D.  D.  German- 
town. 

John  McDowell,  D.  D.  Phiia- 
delphia. 

Cornelius  C.  Cuyler,  D.  D. 
Philadelphia. 

Alexander  Henry,  Esq.  Phila- 
delphia. 

Matthew  Brown,  D.D.  President 
of  Jefferson  Coll.  Canonsburg. 

William  R.  De  Witt,  D.  D. 
Harrisburgh. 

Thomas  Fleming,  Esq.  Phila- 
delphia. 

Ambrose  White,  Esq.  Philadel- 
phia. 

Rev.  Albert  Barnes,  Philadel- 
phia. 

David  H.  Riddle,  D.  D.  Pitts- 
burgh. 

Hon.  Will  iam  Jessup,Montrose. 

Hon.  William  Darling,  Reading. 

Rev.  Bernard  C.  Wolff,  Easton. 

Rev.  John  W.  Nevin,  Mercers- 
burg. 

MARYLAND. 

Rev.  James  G.  Hamner,  Balti- 
more. 

VIRGINIA. 

John  H.  Cocke,  Fluvanna 
County. 


APPENDIX. 


449 


1826.  William  Maxwell,  Esq.  Presi- 

dent  of  Hampden  Sydney  Col-     1823. 
lege. 

1834.  Thomas  P.    Atkinson,    M.   D. 

Hnlilax  County.  1826. 

1834.  William  S.  Plumer,  D.  D.  Rich- 
mond. 

NORTH    CAROLINA.  1832. 

1834.  W.  McPheters,  D.  D.  Raleigh.     1834. 

SOUTH    CAROLINA. 

1826.  Benjamin    M.  Palmer,    D.  D. 

Charleston.  1834. 

1839.  Reuben  Post,  D.  D".  Charleston. 

GEORGIA.  1838. 

1834.  Joseph  H.  Lumpkin,  Esq.  Lex- 
ington. 

1834.  Thomas  Goulding,  D.  D.  Co-     1840. 
lumbus. 

TENNESSEE.  1838. 

1826.  Charles  Coffin,  D.  D.  President 

of  the  College,  Greenville. 
1834.  Isaac   Anderson,  D.  D.  Profes-      1840 

Bor    in    the    Theolog.    Sem. 

Maryville. 


OHIO. 

Lyman  Beecher,  D.  D.  Presi- 
dent of  Lane  Seminary  Cin- 
cinnati. 

Robert  G.  Wilson,  D.  D.  Pre- 
sident of  the  University, 
Athens. 

James  Hosrc,  D.  D.  Columbus. 

Robert  H.  Bishop,  D.  D.  Presi- 
dent of  Miami  University  Ox- 
ford. 

Rev.  Sylvester  Homes,  Cincin- 
nati. 

Geo.  E.  Pierce,  D.  D.  President 
of  the  Western  Reserve  Coll. 
Hudson. 

Rev.  Harvey  Coe,  Hudson. 

MICHIGAN. 

Eurotas  P.  Hastings,  Esq.  Der 
troit. 

MISSOURI. 

Rev.  Artemas  Bullard,  St, 
Louis. 


CORPORATE  MEMBERS  DECEASED. 


Elected.  MAINE.  Deceased. 

1813.  Jesse  Appleton,  D.  D.  1820.  1816. 
1826.  Edward  Payson,  D.  D.       1828. 

NEW    HAMPSHIRE.  1818. 

1812.  John  Langdon,  LL.  D.   1820.  1819. 

1812.  Seth  Payson,  D.  D.     1820.  1812. 

1820.  Hon.  Thomas  W.Thomp-  1824. 

son.               1822.  1826. 

1830.  Hon.  George  Sullivan.  1838.  1812. 
1820.  John  H.  Church,  D.  D.       1840.  1822. 

MASSACHUSETTS.  1826. 

1810.  Samuel  Spring,  D.D.         1819.  1826. 

1810.  Samuel  Worcester,  D.  D.  1821.  1832. 
1818.  ZephaniahS.Moore,  D.D.  1823.  1840. 

1811.  Jedidiah  Morse,  1).  D.        1826. 

1812.  Hon.  William  Phillips.  1827.  1812. 
1810.  Joseph  Lyman.  D.  D.  1828.  1823. 
1812.  Hon.  John  Hooker.             1829. 

1822.  Samuel  Au.stin,  D.  D.  1831.  1812. 
1812.  Jeremiah  Evarls.  Esq.       1831. 

1831.  Elias  Cornelius.  D.  D.  1832.  1819. 
1828.  Benjamin  Wisner,  D.D.  1835.  1826. 
1818.  Hon.  William  Reed.          1837. 

1810.  William  Bartlet,  Esq.        1841.  1834. 

CONNECTICUT. 

1810.  Timothy  Dwight,  D.  D.  1823. 

LL.  D.                               1817.  1832. 
1810.  Gen.Jedidiah Huntington.  1819. 

1810.  JohnTreadwell.LL.D.     1823.  1834, 

57 


NEW    YORK. 

Stephen  Van  Rensselaer, 

LL.  D.  1839. 

Col.  Henry  Lincklaen.  1822. 

Divie  Bethune,  Esq.  1834. 

.lohn  Jay,  LL.  D.  1829. 

Col.  Henry  Rutjrers,  1830. 

Col.  Richard  Varick.  1831. 

Egbert  Benson,  LLD.  1833. 

Jonas  Piatt,  LL.  D.  1834. 

Wm.  McMurray,D.  D.  1835. 

John  Nitchie,  Esq.  1838. 

Zechariah  Lewis,  Esq.  1840. 

Gerrit    Wendell,  Esq.  1841. 

NEW    JERSEY. 

Elias  Boudinot,  LL.D.  1822. 

Edward  D.  Griffin,  D.  D.  1838. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Robert  Ralston,  Esq.  1835. 

DISTRICT    OF    COLUMBIA. 

Elias  Boudinot  Caldwell,  1S25. 

Joseph  Nourse,  Esq.  1841. 

MARYLAND. 

William  Nevins,  D.  D.  1835. 

VIRGINIA. 

John  H.  Rice,  D.  D.  1831. 

George  A.  Baxter,  D.  D.  1841. 

NORTH    CAROLINA. 

Joseph  Caldwell,  D.  D.  1835. 


450 


APPENDIX, 


SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

1826.  Moses  Waddell,  D.  D.       1840. 

GEORGIA. 

1826.  John  Cummings,  M.  D.     1835. 


ILLINOIS. 

1826.  Gideon  Blacklmrn,  D.  D.  1839. 

INDIANA. 

1838.  Elihu  W.  Baldwin,  D.  D.  1840. 


CORRESPONDING  MEMBERS. 


In  tite  ITnited  States, 

1819.  William  Hill,  D.  D.  Alexan- 
dria, D.  C. 

1819.  Rev.  James  Culbertson,  Zanes- 
vilie,  Ohio. 

1819.  James  BIythe.D.D.  South  Han- 
over, la. 

1819.  Joseph  C.  Strong,  M.  D., 
Knoxville,  Ten. 

1819.  Col.  John  McKee,  Alabama. 


In  Foreign  Parts. 

ENGLAND. 

1819. 

Josiah  Pratt,  B.  D.,  London. 

1819. 

Rev.  William  Jowett,  London. 

ENGLAND. 

1841. 

,  John  Morrison,  D.  D.  London. 

SCOTLAND. 

1841. 

Thomas  Chalmers,  D.D.  LL.  D. 

INDIA. 

1840. 

John  Stevenson,  D.  D. 

1840. 

Rev.  George  Candy. 

1841. 

E.  p.  Thompson,  Esq. 

APPENDIX. 


461 


D. 

RECEIPTS,  EXPENDITURES  AND  RESULTS. 


s? 

i 

i 

s 

iReceipls. 

£xpendiuiTes. 

ra 

.£3 

si 

-  = 

1 
o 

OS 

c 

1 

si 

lg 

1811 

999  52 

555  88 

1812 

13,611  50 

9,555  88 

1813 

11,361  18 

8,611  05 

1 

3 

1814 

12,265  56 

7,077  62 

1 

4 

1815 

9,993  89 

5,026  80 

1 

2 

1816 

12,501  03 

15,933  83 

2 

13 

1817 

29,948  63 

20,484  71 

4 

16 

1818 

34,727  72 

36,426  25 

7 

29 

1819 

37,520  63 

40,307  25 

8 

42 

1820 

39,949  45 

57,420  93 

15 

65 

1821 

46,354  95 

45,765  41 

19 

86 

1822 

60,087  87 

59,323  89 

21 

95 

1823 

55,758  94 

66,379  75 

27 

126 

47 

1824 

47,483  58 

54,157  05 

34 

126 

— 

1825 

55,716  18 

41,468  53 

35 

130 

— 

1826 

61,616  25 

59,012  94 

34 

131 

53 

18^7 

88,341  89 

103,430  30 

41 

200 

67 

1828 

102,009  64 

107,676  25 

46 

223 

36 

523 

1 

— 

1829 

106,928  26 

92,533  13 

44 

225 

41 

770 

78 

1830 

83,019  37 

84,797  66 

47 

225 

— 

1,100 

91 

1831 

100,934  09 

98,312  75 

51 

232 

— 

1,300 

83 

1832 

130,574  12 

120,954  95 

55 

237 

43 

1,800 

]^ 

117 

1833 

145,844  77 

149,906  27 

56 

236 

54 

1,940 

147 

1834 

152,386  10 

159,779  61 

65 

293 

44 

2,000 

124 

1835 

163,340  19 

163,254  00 

78 

308 

55 

2,047 

130 

1836 

176,232  15 

210,407  54 

81 

320 

77 

2,003 

327 

1837 

252,076  55 

254,589  51 

79 

360 

115 

2,147 

418 

1838 

230,170  98 

230,642  80 

85 

358 

115 

2,562 

336 

1839 

244,169  82 

227,491  56 

77 

375 

1U7 

7,311 

363 

1840 

241,691  04 

246,601  37 

80 

375 

122 

17,234 

8 

412 

1841 

235,189  30 

268,914  79 

86 

384 

145 

19,842 

7 

499 

In  the  above  table,  the  statement  of  receipts  and  expenditures  is  drawn 
from  the  Treasurer's  hooks,  and  is  exact.  It  does  not  inckidc  what  the  Board 
has  received  Irom  and  expended  for  Bible,  Tract,  and  other  societies.  From 
the  imperfection  of  the  returns  for  several  of  the  earher  years,  and  from  the 
changes  during  the  course  of  each  year,  tiie  numbers  in  the  other  columns  are 
not  supposed  to  be,  in  all  cases,  perfectly  accurate ;  but  they  are  near  the 
truth.  Where  a  tolerable  approximation  could  not  be  made,  the  number  is 
left  blank.  The  column  of  native  communicants  does  not  include  the  hundreds, 
perhaps  thousands,  of  converts  in  the  Armenian  and  other  nominally  Christian 


452  APPENDIX. 

churches,  who  still  retain  their  former  ecclesiastical  connections.  The  number 
of  children  in  common  schools,  deriving  more  or  less  aid  from  the  labors  of 
the  Board  and  its  missions,  has  probably,  for  the  last  ten  years,  been  from 
50,000  to  100,000  ;  the  number  in  schools  wholly  under  the  control  of  the  mis- 
sions and  supported  at  their  expense,  from  5,000  to  25,000.  There  are  at 
present,  connected  with  the  several  missions,  fifiy-nine  churches  gathered  by 
the  labors  of  the  missionaries,  embracing  above  nineteen  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred native  members;  also  seven  seminaries  for  the  education  ol  native 
preachers  and  other  assistants,  in  which  are  four  hundred  and  ninety-nme 
pupils  ;  with  twenty-five  other  boarding-schools,  embracing  five  hundred  and 
fifty-six  pupils ;  besides  490  free  schools,  in  which  about  twenty-three  thousand 
children  and  youth  are  receiving  a  Christian  education.  There  are  fifteen 
printing  establishments  for  the  use  of  the  missions,  with  five  type  foundries, 
and  29  presses.  At  these,  printing  has  been  executed  for  the  missions  in 
thirty-two  languages,  spoken  by  more  than  450,000,000  of  people,  exclusive  of 
the  English.  The  languages  are  the  following  ;— Grebo,  Zulu,  Italian,  Greek, 
Armeno-Turkish,  ArnTenian,  Arabic,  Mahratta,  Portuguese,  Goojuratee,  Hin- 
dosthanee,  Latin,  Tamul,  Teloogoo,  Siamese,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Malay,  Bu- 
gis,  Hawaiian,  Marquesas,  Cherokee,  Choctaw,  Seneca,  Abernaquis,  Ojibwa, 
Ottawa,  Creek,  Osage,  Sioux,  Pawnee,  and  Nez  Perces ;  fourteen  of  which 
were  first  reduced  to  a  written  form  by  missionaries  of  the  Board.  The  whole 
number  of  pages  printed  by  the  missions  of  the  Board  since  their  commence- 
ment, is  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  ninety -four  millions. 


THE  END. 


8A1SUW1CH  ISLANDS. 
Drawn,  Engtated  and  Prmled  ai  Lahainaluna  bv  Natives  educated  under  tl.o  care  of  .1..  Amorica« 


Princeton   Theological  Semmary-Spei 


1    1012  01100  6956 


DATE  DUE 


Demco,  Inc.  38-293 


